A recent report from British Daily, the Guardian titled “Pak usded Lashkar Terrorist Sajid Mir to fool FATF” has unraveled how Islamabad misled the Financial Action Task Force by playing a false drama of arresting Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (L-e-T) terrorist and former Pakistan army officer Sajjid Mir. The L-e-T terrorist was sentenced to 15 years in prison on 16 May by an Anti-Terrorist Court in Lahore. The stage managed drama began two months before the FATF plenary at Berlin that started from 14 June. He had been arrested in April and was sentenced in a fake drama to window dress Islamabad’s sincerity in curbing terror financing.
The conviction of Sajjid Mir was included in the dossier that the Pakistani team submitted to FATF before the plenary began. This “achievement” played an important role in FATF announcing to bring Pakistan out of the Grey List. The decision was taken by the FATF hybrid plenary meeting on June 12 which met in Berlin and was the final one under the two-year Germany Presidency of Marcus Pleyer. FATF has now appointed T. Raja Kumar of Singapore as the next President for a fixed two-year term from July 1.
It will be instructive to the new President to come to terms with the possible manners the terror funding allegations could be bluffed by fake and stage-managed action against terrorists, as Pakistan resorted to. In the Berlin plenary, FATF findings stated, “In particular, Pakistan demonstrated that TF (Terror Funding) investigations and prosecutions target senior leaders and commanders of UN designated terrorist groups and that there is a positive upward trend in the number of ML (Money Laundering) investigations and prosecutions being pursued in Pakistan in line with Pakistan’s risk profile.” This was, however, a bluffing act by Pakistan.
Once FATF conducts an on-site visit to verify the claims made by Pakistan, it will start the process to remove it from the Grey List later in the year, most probably in the month of October or November. Nevertheless, it is necessary to unbare Pakistan’s falsehood so that terror funding by the country stops which is notoriously known for using “terrorism” as an instrument of state and foreign policy.
The infamous terrorists sentenced by Pakistan including Sajjid Mir get “better than home treatment” while under arrest in Pakistan. Other terrorists who have received similar treatment include Lashkar Chief Hafiz Saeed, Mumbai attack planner Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, Lashkar Deputy Chief Abdul Rehman Makki, its media head Yahya Mujahid and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh who killed Wall Street Journal reporter, Daniel Pearl. The terrorist leaders are treated as “special” by the Pakistani establishment and instead of impounding them, the Islamabad provides “protection” to them whether they are out or in prison.
It is now known from various sources that Sajjid Mir, an active member of the Pakistan military till the early 2000, was living with full liberty and protection in Pakistan post the 26/11 attack and his whereabouts were known to state and ISIS, the Pakistani intelligence agency. “He would move around Lahore, Islamabad like any other former Pakistan Army Officer revealed an unnamed source.” He was on the US FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list.
It needs to be noted by the FATF that there is difference between “sincere” and “fake” measures. How can a single country be a haven for dreaded terrorists without state funding and support. Under the protection of Pak state such terrorist leaders are provided safe havens, arms and ammunitions and explosives, etc. With direct and indirect funding in the garb of supporting fake frontal social welfare entities led by the terror outfits.
Now as Pakistan enters the final stages of its efforts to be removed from FATF’s Grey List, it is likely to once again play a stage managed drama in case of the eluding Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) founder Masood Azhar and his brother Rauf Asghar. Reportedly, Pakistan has doubled its efforts to nab these two most wanted by India for their role in many terror attacks, including the IC814 aeroplane hijack in 1999 and the Parliament attack in 2001.
According to submissions by the Pakistani government, its National Counter Terrorism Authority (NAC-TA) is coordinating the manhunt for Masood Azhar, who agencies claim is on the run and the process to declare Azhar a “proclaimed offender” is under way. A terror financing case was also lodged against Azhar in March 2021. But observers believe it all to be an “eyewash”. It is because when Pakistan accepts that Azhar is a terrorist fugitive who engaged in terror funding and terror acts, the question is revealing its intent why it has failed to hand him over for a judicial trial in India or even in Pakistan. All this exercise intends just to cajole the FATF. And if FATF fails to take cognizance of this, it is neither good for Pakistan nor for the victims outside.