ISLAMABAD: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is a policy-making body and it has no authority to place any country on grey or black list. These views were expressed by Senator Rehman Malik, while presiding over the meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior. He said the FATF was playing a discriminatory role as it was victimising Pakistan, while favouring India.

He informed the committee that he, as the chairman of this committee had written a letter to the FATF president to remove Pakistan's name from its 'grey list' and proceed against Indian PM Modi for his role in money laundering and terror financing, but discriminatory treatment was being meted out to Pakistan.

Malik urged the government to question the legitimacy of the FATF in the next meeting on the issue. "If the FATF cannot take any action against India why is Pakistan being pressurised and targeted," he questioned.

He informed the committee that he had drafted a petition for the ICJ against the discriminatory role of FATF and should be filed soon along with a delegation. The committee strongly condemned the cyber attacks by Indian spy networks. Malik said India was involved in cyber crimes worldwide and was stealing sensitive national data of various countries for various nefarious activities.

He said Indian hackers stole data of various countries and sold it to rival countries, and the data of individuals for blackmailing. He advised the Ministry of Interior to direct all the departments "to establish iron curtains to protect national data".

The parliamentary body considered the matter of ratification of the nomination of Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmed belonging to the opposition benches in place of Senator Kauda Babar as member of the Board of Governors of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA).

The committee unanimously ratified the nomination of Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmed. The meeting also considered the Point of Public Importance "Rights of Special People" that was raised by Senator Dr Shahzad Wasim. The committee observed that the existing procedure for issuance of Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) for disabled persons should be reviewed on merit basis, and the government should prepare comprehensive standard operating procedures (SOPs) for issuance of the CNIC with special logo of disability.

Malik said the nature of disability should be mentioned on the CNIC specifically and the certificate of disability should be issued by the medical board of a government hospital. The committee also discussed the matter of seizure of an alleged ship involved in smuggling of oil from Iran into Pakistan at Port Qasim, Karachi.

The Ministry of Interior informed that the matter was taken up with Pakistan Coast Guards Karachi who had informed that the department did not have firsthand information about the alleged ship involved in smuggling of oil into Pakistan.

The committee directed director general (DG) Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) that in coordination with concerned department submit a detailed report on the matter and brief the committee at the next meeting.

He directed that a copy of the report of American watchdog, copies of the forged documentation, and its forensic report from an independent laboratory duly recognized and accredited by the government shall be provided to the committee.

He asked that the FIA identify that who is the importer in Pakistan and the middle man involved in this deal, and inform the committee of any past allegation on this importer for bringing sub-standard or illegal diesel and crude oil to Pakistan.

He also directed to provide the list of all those who have been supplying sub-standard diesel, crude oil and other petroleum products and how many cases have been registered for smuggling via Port Qasim Karachi, and the number of cases registered against oil companies involved in smuggling crude oil through Gwadar Port.

The meeting was attended by senators, Javed Abbasi, Rana Maqbool Ahmed, Azam Khan Swati, Sardar Shafiq Tareen, Dr Shahzad Wasim, Kalsoom Perveen, secretary interior and other government officials.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020