ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has embarked upon a diplomatic campaign to counter theUS move to put Pakistan on the watch list of countries funding terrorismfrom the platform of FATF (Financial Action Task Force), an institutioncreated apparently for arms-twisting of vulnerable and weaker members ofinternational community.
According to reports, Pakistani envoys abroad have been directed to briefand lobby with host governments that are members of the FATF, sensitisingthem about measures adopted by Pakistan to prevent money laundering anddealings with terrorist outfits.
However, as acknowledged by government during briefing to Parliament, themove if succeeds will have disastrous consequences for Pakistan especiallyits economy. It is all the more worrying that the campaign against Pakistaninitiated by the United States for understandable reasons also has supportof the United Kingdom, France and some other countries.
Some politicians especially those belonging to the opposition,commentators and analysts are terming the possibility as failure ofPakistan’s foreign policy. But, in our view, Foreign Office has been leftwith little or no space to advance the country’s interests because ofmultiple vulnerabilities of Pakistan because of internal weaknesses andlack of government attention to deal with threats on external front.
The timing of the move clearly indicates what its motives are and what thesponsors want to achieve from it. The United States is putting enormouspressure on Pakistan to force its leadership to accept Washington’s termsfor cooperation in the war against terror i.e. ignoring Pakistan’s own coreinterests.
Secondly, it is understandably aimed at penalising Pakistan for growingeconomic and military partnership with China and moves towardsstrengthening ties with Russian Federation.
The United States and India have demonstrated their avowed opposition tothe gigantic project of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which hasthe potential to resolve economic woes of the country, freeing it from theexploitative clutches of some countries that always use the aid forarms-twisting. It is strange that Pakistan is being pressurised at a timewhen its armed forces have achieved remarkable successes in eliminating anumber of terrorist outfits and need active collaboration and support ofinternational community to wipe out the remnants of terrorism.
Punjab government has also taken comprehensive action against twocharities, which were associated with JuD of Hafiz Saeed, despite the factthat these were busy in welfare activities and had nothing to do withterrorism.
On the other hand, it is an open secret that the United States, India andAfghanistan are openly funding, training and arming anti-Pakistan terroristoutfits that are engaged in activities to destabilise the country throughdifferent means.
Pakistan, no doubt, will have some setbacks if put on the watch list but itis time for our national leadership to sink internal differences and havebrainstorming sessions on how to safeguard economic and strategic interestsof the country.