At a time when Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) patron and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and his terror machinery are getting a free run in Pakistan after his recent release from house arrest, Indian intelligence agencies are burning the midnight oil to get the international community to impose financial sanctions on Pakistan once again.
The security brass wants Pakistan to be blacklisted once again by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)—the global watchdog for combating terror financing. ''The inability of Pakistan to curtail the activities of the proscribed outfits operating from its soil which are continuing to use banking channels and other facilities for terror financing raises huge concern about the financial assets linked to Pakistan,” a senior Intelligence official said.
New Delhi feels Pakistan must be put under the blacklist again or at least the grey list. FATF has different grading for countries which come under its scanner and once they fall into any category, automatically the financial institutions world over take a step back as far as financial dealings with the marked country is concerned.
“Pakistan has already been under scanner of FATF. It is a matter of time and if Pakistan continues to allow its terror financing networks to continue under the patronage of Hafiz Saeed and his terror outfits, we will demand action against them,” the officials said .
The evidence brought to the notice of the FATF by law enforcement agencies includes several specific instances when banking institutions of Pakistan operating on foreign soil have failed to clamp down on suspicious transactions. “The US agencies, for instance, had taken strict note of the fact that certain Pakistani banks like Habib Bank operating on its soil had allowed certain suspicious transactions to go through, prompting the FBI to include them in its cyber crime most wanted list. It was also for the first time a banking institution was being named at the FATF plenary in Argentina last month,” said an observer.
The naming of State Bank of Pakistan for not regulating the flow of funds by alleged terror financing groups was a big setback for Pakistan, which now has to report to the international body by February next year. Islamabad will have to list out what steps it has taken towards each of the concerns raised by member countries, especially India and the US.
Given the fact that, LeT and JuD backed Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF)—banned by UN—had bank accounts in Pakistani banks, much more demonstrative action will also need to be shown by Pakistan which has let Saeed walk free.
It was in 2008, after it was recognised by the international community that the 26/11 terror attacks were masterminded and funded by LeT under Saeed’s patronage, that the FATF blacklisted Pakistan, and these sanctions continued till 2015. However, Islamabad has once again shown that it has no control over persons like Saeed and the terror machinery being run from its soil. Both the US and India are once again demanding that Pakistan must reign in Saeed.
