ISLAMABAD: The government plans to establish fully trained and equippedCombating Financing of Terrorism (CFT) units at respective federal andprovincial departments to improve inter-agency coordination.
The CFT units would investigate money laundering, terror financing besidesasset tracking and financial investigation.
As per National Internal Security Policy 2018-2023, the Anti-Terrorism Act,1997, and Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, provide strict laws in Pakistanagainst financing of terrorism. Steps are being taken to improveenforcement of these laws by establishing an effective CFT regime in thecountry with investigative, analytic, deterrent and preventive roles.
The policy document while listing the steps reveals that specializedtraining will be provided to prosecution and judicial branches of criminaljustice system to improve conviction rate while a National Task Force onChoking Terrorism – a coordinating body of over 20 federal and provincialorganizations – has already been established to improve inter-agencycoordination in this regard.
Moreover, stringent controls on cross-border movement of money andbranchless/internet banking have been enforced in collaboration withFinancial Monitoring Unit (FMU) at State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). The FMUhas already prepared its own AML-CFT (Anti Money Laundering-CombatingFinancing of Terrorism) strategy in this regard.
Highlighting some other steps to be taken on an urgent basis for furtherenhancing CFT capability, the document said that Facilitation andRegulation of Charities Act will be enacted to ensure that every pennydonated into charity in the country is accounted for. The existing lawswill be reviewed and amended where necessary to bring them at par withinternational standards.
An international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) policy has alreadybeen enforced by the Ministry of Interior to regulate registration,working, funding, monitoring and other related aspects pertaining to alltypes of INGOs functioning in Pakistan. All necessary steps will also betaken to implement international agreements with regard to acting onfunding sources of terrorism and proscribed organizations.
Regional and international collaboration in tackling militant networks willbe enhanced. Efforts will also be made to enforce an arms embargo, imposetravel restrictions, freeze movable and immovable property and curtail fundraising ability of proscribed organizations. Meanwhile, modern technologydata will be leveraged to improve processes, enhance efficiency andeffectiveness, increase transparency and institutionalize new ways ofdelivering public services.
The Integrated Border Management System, Safe City project and bio-metricSIM registration systems are successful examples of using informationtechnology to achieve these objectives. New initiatives will also belaunched along the same lines.
Under the policy, a number of information systems will be developed anddeployed. The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) will beempowered to take a lead on development/implementations of these systems.
These include an information system proposed under criminal justice systemreforms, Pakistan visa processing system designed to streamline visaapplication, national centralized vehicle database and national criminaldatabase and fingerprint identification system.
It has also been envisaged in the policy that a National Cyber SecurityStrategy will be developed to secure services and infrastructure from cyberattacks. A combined civil-military cyber command force will be establishedto ensure intra- and inter-agency coordination.
Cybercrimes Wing at Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Cyber SecurityWing at National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA) will be strengthenedand their capacity enhanced to curb cybercrimes in collaboration withPakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). Public campaigns will belaunched to promote awareness about cyber security threats.