ISLAMABAD – The US has warned that it will try to place Pakistan on a watchlist of countries that are not making enough efforts to counter terrorismfinancing, threatening Islamabad with global isolation, according to asenior Pakistani official.

Pakistan’s interior minister says that if the country is put on the globalterrorist financial watchlist, security operations will suffer, Sputnik hasreported.

He stated that Western countries’ attempts to impose restrictionson Pakistan’s agenda in fighting terrorism are not helpful, as they allowextremists to argue that the government acts as a stooge of foreign powers.

“It denies us our space to move against these groups in full force,”Pakistan’s Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal says he hopes that the upcomingelections will be free and fair and doesn’t think that pressure from thejudiciary can influence the outcome.

“We hope elections will be fair and free as the country can’t afford anycrisis as a result, but recently there are some concerns due to thejudicial activism and how the national accountability bureau has beenpursuing cases against only one party,” the minister said.

Earlier this month, Pakistan’s Supreme Court disbarred overthrown PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)party from holding office for life amid an ongoing corruption trial.

In January, US President Donald Trump blamed Pakistan for deceiving theUnited States while it took billions in US military aid for the waron terror. Trump consequently directed nearly all security-related aidto be frozen.

Washington then went on to sanction a number of Pakistani companiesfor alleged engagement in the nuclear trade. The media reports haveindicated that the US administration was also considering to permanentlycut off military aid, among other measures.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani official said the Pakistani army has managedto minimize terrorist acts in the country by more than 85 percentsince 2014, stating that Islamabad has achieved success in its fightagainst terrorism.