Claiming credit for FATF victory

ByHoor Asrar Rauf

A national swimming champion and recently Graduated from UCF-USA in Hospitality and Event Management

Dated

June 28, 2022

Claiming credit for FATF

The Claiming credit for FATF moral and rational fabric of Pakistan has gone down to unbelievable levels as has been brought to the fore yet again by the puerile race witnessed by various stakeholders claiming the credit for letting Pakistan come out of FTAF grey list. In this mad race, the credit-seekers have completely ignored the very fact that it will take many months and further monitoring by FATF before giving final decision about the issue. They have also not paid any heed to the apparent dichotomy in the conduct of FATF that took no time in relegating Pakistan to the grey list but will now take many months to bring the country out of it. They have also pushed under the carpet the fact that the official agencies took four years to fulfill the conditions laid down by FATF that normally required just 18 months to complete.

The rush to claim credit by some quarters is also debated as many circles in the country point out that the misplaced and short-sighted policies of these very quarters were primarily responsible for landing Pakistan on the list. It is also pointed out that the mad scramble of PTI becomes hollow in the wake of the claim of the ISPR that it was actually its core group that made it possible for getting Pakistan out of this quagmire. It is quite plain to everybody that PTI was heading the proxy government whose strings were pulled by someone else. In this respect PTI is praising the so-called hard work put it in by its former minister Hammad Azhar who faced the ignominy of being summarily removed from the position of finance minister by his prime minister without assigning any reason.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also felicitated the nation and government institutions, personalities and the relevant teams over the development and particularly appreciated the performance of Hina Rabbani Khar and the members of team of the Foreign Office who represented the country at the meeting despite the fact that Ms Khar has precious little to do with the subject. As of it was not enough, PPP also came out with a series of statements praising their party chairman and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari for successful diplomacy yet again forgetting that he too had little to do with the matter.

The high-ringing claims made by politicos probably annoyed the real rulers of the country who came out with a ringing claim that it was actually due to their actions that this problem was solved. In this context, a military spokesman termed the development a “great achievement” and gave credit to the civil-military team but mainly to the core cell set up at the army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi for it. This stinging rebuke drastically altered the situation whereby political rivals that were unwilling to acknowledge each other’s efforts, sang unanimous praises for the role of the military in this regard.

Despite such needless claims to hog credit it is a good omen that Pakistan has finally got the assurance of an on-site visit from the FATF to verify the implementation and sustainability of the country’s money-laundering and counterterrorism financing measures before it is formally removed from the task force’s increased monitoring (grey) list. This implies that Pakistan should be removed from the grey list in October once the on-site inspection is conducted. The Berlin plenary made its initial determination that Pakistan has substantially completed two action plans, complying with all 34 items, noting that this showed that the necessary political commitment remains in place to sustain implementation and improvement in the future.

It must however be borne in mind that the decision also indicates tacit US support that certainly would not be acknowledged by competing claim-seekers. It is also a good news for Pakistan-IMF parleys as the FATF decision has brought Pakistan closer to the restoration of the IMF bailout and as once formally removed from the list, the country will see its credit rating improve, giving confidence to foreign investors. No matter how encouraging it is, Pakistan’s success in meeting FATF’s anti-money-laundering and antiterrorist-financing standards despite the efforts of certain foreign powers to get the country blacklisted, should not make the authorities complacent as had been the case previously.

It must always be kept in view that Pakistan has been in the grey list thrice since 2008 and getting downgraded again to it would do irreparable damage to the economy and international trade. In the wake of such potential danger it appears to be in fitness of things to continue to show the highest level of political commitment to address the leftover deficiencies in the country’s AML/CFT regime and carry on the good work to update and strengthen the relevant laws so that this issue is resolved for good. TW

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