Pakistan escapes terror blacklisting: Is FATF too easy on Islamabad?

Pakistan gets a “stern warning” by the financial action task force.

Xiangmin Liu, the president of the global financial watchdog has warned Pakistan to fully comply with all of its parameters.

Islamabad though proudly basks in just having complied with 5 of the 27 parameters.

Imran khan has less than four months failing which Pakistan would be blacklisted in the next plenary in February 2020. 

The inter-governmental body has told Islamabad that it could be placed on the blacklist should it fail to tackle terror financing and money laundering.

Both are grievous charges that the Pakistani deep state has over the years, instead of getting its act together, simply managed to hide better. 

The financial action task force is seen as a major tool of leverage over Pakistan — encouraging, rather pushing Islamabad to crack down on home-grown terrorists who have peddled their jihad — with the tacit support of the crown jewel of the Pakistani deep state — the ISI.

Hafiz Saeed, the 26/11 mastermind, and Masood Azhar, the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief are UN-designated terrorists who are being feted by successive Pakistani governments.

What is surprising is that despite the sea of evidence against them, why must Pakistan get away with a slap on the wrist?.

And instead of introspecting, Pakistan had no qualms about blaming India for lobbying to have it blacklisted.

As per reports, China, Pakistan's all-weather ally yet again came to Islamabad's rescue.

And countries such as turkey and Malaysia “lauded” Pakistan's efforts to curb terror financing.

The truth, as much as it would sting Imran Khan, remains — that Pakistan's economy can't afford to be blacklisted.

And, given Islamabad's roots in the decades-long business of financing, nurturing and unleashing terrorists across the entirety of the SAARC region and beyond, it looks like an uphill battle that Islamabad isn’t ready for.