ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi warned the United States onMonday that the latter’s move to block financial aid to Pakistan “actuallyonly serve(s) to degrade our capability to fight the war against terror”.
The incumbent leadership of Pakistan will, however, push ahead with plansto seize control of charities run by Hafiz Saeed — an extremist designateda terrorist by Washington — and warned the US not to weaken Islamabad, thePremier added.
“Yes, the government will take over the charities, which are sanctioned andnot allowed to operate,” Abbasi, 59, told Reuters in an interview at theprime minister’s chamber in Islamabad.
The prime minister said any sanctions against the state would becounter-productive to the country’s own battle against militants, which hecalled “the largest war on terror in the world”.
He added that the US will have to fight terrorists on its own.
Abbasi continued that the nation had made progress in curbing terroristfinancing after meetings with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) — aninternational body that warned Islamabad could be put on a watchlist fornot doing enough to stop the practice.
“We’ve had several meetings on that, and from what I’ve seen a large partof those actions have been taken,” Abbasi said.
A UN Security Council (UNSC) team is due to visit Pakistan this month toreview progress against UN-designated “terrorist” groups, which includesLeT and others, such as the Afghan Taliban-allied Haqqani network.
Hafiz Saeed
There are concerns in Pakistan that the country may face financialsanctions over accusations of selective action against extremist groups andfinancing.
Under pressure from the US and international institutions to crack down onterrorist financing, Pakistan last month drew up secret plans for a“takeover” of charities linked to extremist leader Saeed — who India andWashington both blame for the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people.
The US has labelled these charities as “terrorist fronts” for Saeed’s groupthat was founded in 1987.
Saeed has repeatedly denied involvement in the Mumbai attacks and says thecharitable organisations he founded and controls have no ties withmilitants.
But both he and the organisations have been sanctioned by the UN and hisfreedom in Pakistan has been a thorn in Islamabad’s relations with Indiaand the US.
Answering specific questions about the proposed takeover, Abbasi said thecivilian government had the backing of the powerful military.
“Everybody is on board, everybody is on the same page, everybody iscommitted to [the] implementation of UN sanctions,” he said, declining toset a deadline.
Both extremist organisations have previously said they would take legalaction if the government tried to take them over. Saeed could not bereached for comment.
Trump tweet and meeting
On another note, Abbasi also spoke of a brief discussion he had with Trumpback in September, last year, at a reception at the UN General Assembly(UNGA) in New York.
“I found him to be fairly warm,” he said. “Somebody that you would like toengage with and talk to.”
He, however, brushed off the US president’s recent tweet accusing Islamabadof “lies and deception” in its commitment to fighting terrorism, as heraised the prospect of charging the United States to use Pakistan’sairspace to resupply NATO troops in Afghanistan.
There was no customary meaning behind Trump’s tweet, the premier noted,saying, however, that the language the American head-of-state used wasunacceptable.
Abbasi said Trump’s tweet was “unacceptable” in its tone and that Pakistanshould not be “scapegoated” for US failures in Afghanistan.
“That is something … we cannot accept because nobody’s suffered more thanPakistan,” Abbasi said, adding that tens of thousands of Pakistani havedied from militancy that has inflicted damage worth $120 billion to theeconomy.
Frayed relations
The US-Pakistan relations have frayed since January 1 when Trump lashed outagainst what he called Pakistan’s “lies and deceit” over its allegedsupport of Afghan Taliban militants battling US troops in Afghanistan.
The uneasy ally has since suspended — aid totalling about $2 billion — toPakistan, accusing it of being a base for myriad extremist movements andcritics alleging that Islamabad harbours terrorists and offers them “safehavens”.
Pakistan denies those allegations.
US officials last year warned of tougher measures against Pakistan,including potentially withdrawing its “non-Nato ally” status or evendesignating it a state sponsor of terrorism.
Abbasi said much of the suspended aid was from the Coalition Support Fund(CSF), a US Defence Department programme to reimburse allies for the costsof supporting counter-terrorist and counter-insurgency operations.
He said the US needed to respect Pakistan’s contribution to the fightagainst militancy and raised the prospect of charging Washington for airtransport flights that have been resupplying US-led troops and Afghanforces in landlocked Afghanistan.
“If somebody wants to start quantifying expenses and aid, I think let’s putthis on the table also. Let’s discuss that,” Abbasi said, though he addedthat such talk was “hypothetical”.
Abbasi dismissed media reports that Islamabad has ended intelligencesharing with the US military as false. – Agencies