ISLAMABAD – To implement the National Action Plan (NAP) in letter andspirit, the government has decided to take stern action against all themilitant outfits operating in the country.
Information Minister, Fawad Chaudhry confirmed in a TV talk show that thegovernment had decided to launch a crackdown against such groups, however,he fell short of providing any timeline in this regard.
The decision comes days after National Security Committee (NSC) met and‘decided to accelerate action against proscribed organisations’ besidesre-imposition of a ban on Jama’at-ud-Da’wah and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.
A source close to the developments revealed that the action was not inresponse to the Pulwama attack but was in national interest.
“We are taking action in our national interest. We have to correct thecourse. We cannot leave this mess for our next generation,” the source toldDawn News.
“It was decided in NAP in 2014 that there would action against proscribedgroups. That required strategic shift and such changes take time,” hestressed.
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The decision of a crackdown against militant outfits comes days after theFinancial Action Task Force (FATF) issued statements regarding the actionstaken by Pakistan to move out of its Grey list, asking it do mre.
“Since June 2018, when Pakistan made a high-level political commitment towork with the FATF and APG to strengthen its AML/CFT [anti moneylaundering/combating financing of terrorism] regime and to address itsstrategic counter-terrorist financing-related deficiencies, Pakistan hastaken steps towards improving its AML/CFT regime, including byoperationalising the integrated database for its currency declarationregime,” the FATF acknowledged last month.
Pakistan was placed on the Grey List with a set of guidelines to follow inorder to be de-listed. If Pakistan fails to implement the guidelines, itwould be at risk of being blacklisted – a list containing North Korea andIran.
