The Foreign Office on Thursday confirmed that Financial Action Task Force (FATF) would most probably keep Pakistan on its grey list today (Friday) and ruled out any possibility of placing the country on the black list. In his weekly media briefing, Spokesperson Foreign Office Dr Mohammad Faisal said that the FATF would announce its formal decision today (Friday) and Pakistan would most likely remain on the grey list till October this year.
In October, he said, the FATF would again meet in Paris and evaluate the progress made by Pakistan on the implementation of the agreed action plan. "If FATF expresses satisfaction over the implementation on the action plan, Pakistan would be removed from the grey-list, otherwise there can be problems," he warned.
He said that the FATF in February had decided that Pakistan would negotiate the action plan with the global organizations on anti-money laundering and terror financing till June and the negotiation was done in the last few months in this regard.
"Pakistan will work towards effective implementation of the action plan, while staying in the grey list," he said, adding a similar situation took place in 2011 when Pakistan was included in the grey list and was taken out in 2015 after it successfully implemented the action plan.
The six-day joint FATF and the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) plenary from June 24-29 will conclude today (Friday) in Paris and according to the media reports, it will officially place Pakistan in the grey list after it noted that the country has failed to act against terror financing.
To a question, the spokesperson regretted the European Union's approach of ignoring gross human rights violations in Indian occupied Kashmir as was reported by the UN Commissioner's report on human rights. He called upon the EU countries to support the UN report on gross violations of human rights in occupied Kashmir by the Indian forces.
About the Pakistan-US relations, he said the two sides are engaged and the relationship is on an upward trajectory, adding that trust between the two countries is growing. Regarding the death of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Mullah Fazlullah in a US drone strike, Dr Faisal said that the people of Pakistan breathed a sigh of relief following the confirmation of killing of Mullah Fazlullah, chief of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in the US drone strike.
Commenting on Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, he said that a peaceful and stable Afghanistan is in the best interests of Pakistan as well as the entire region.
He said Pakistan has always supported an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process, adding that it also welcomes Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's peace initiative and the ceasefire with the Taliban, and the Afghan Taliban should accept the ceasefire offer.
He said Pak-Afghan relationship has been steered on a promising path due to the mutually agreed APAPPS (Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity) between Pakistan and Afghanistan following the concerted efforts of the Pakistani leadership. Under APAPPS, the two countries are closely working together under six working groups, he added.
Commenting on the video released by the Indian government of alleged 'surgical strikes' in September 2016, the spokesperson rubbished the Indian government's false and baseless claims. "The farcical claims of surgical strikes are figment of Indian imagination and nothing else. They may dream on," he added.
The spokesperson further said that Pakistan has welcomed the recommendation made by the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights to establish a Commission of Inquiry (COI) to investigate human rights violations by India in Indian occupied Kashmir.
He said that the report stressed that excessive use of force, indiscriminate killing of civilians, blinding by pellet guns, cases of mass graves and sexual violence by India in Jammu and Kashmir constitute crimes against humanity, which must be investigated. The Human Rights Commissioner condemned the recent assassination of the Kashmiri journalist Shujaat Bukhari, Editor-in-Chief of the Rising Kashmir, on June 14, 2018.
"Pakistan has long sought the UN's sustained focus on Jammu & Kashmir and the latest report reaffirms Pakistan's well-known position on the grave human rights abuses committed by India in Indian occupied Jammu & Kashmir," he said, adding that Commission of Inquiry (COI) has been consistent with Pakistan's several calls to this effect since 2016, even as India has continued to ignore legitimate demands for a credible probe mechanism.
"We also endorse the UN's call for a final political solution to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute through meaningful dialogue in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people," he said, adding that the UN has a key role to play in the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
He said that the UN Security Council remains seized of the matter and Jammu and Kashmir remains on its agenda. The latest UN report is a reminder of the urgency of the resolution of this dispute, both to protect human lives and to promote peace, he added. He said that Indian atrocities in IoK continue to bleed, blind and maim innocent Kashmiris. In just one week, he said that the Indian forces killed nine people. "Detaining and not allowing Chairman APHC Syed Ali Gilani to offer Friday prayers is highly deplorable and against internationally recognized right to worship," he added.
Comments
Comments are closed.