ISLAMABAD: Former interior minister and Chairman Institute of Research and Reforms (IRR) Senator Rehman Malik has written a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan, urging him to file a petition in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the FATF’s discrimination and continued victimisation of Pakistan.
In another letter to President FATF Dr Marcus Pleyer, Malik has expressed grave concerns over the discrimination against Pakistan and has pleaded to initiate proceedings against India for money laundering and terror financing and investigate the Indian foreign minister’s confessional statement of influencing the FATF. Senator Malik made letters public, while addressing a press conference here on Wednesday.
He said that some inimical countries are using the FATF as a tool to put Pakistan under pressure with their ulterior motives.
In his letter to Prime Minister Khan, he has expressed that the continued victimisation of Pakistan by the FATF is of great concern to the people of Pakistan since it is damaging not only the country’s economy but also its credibility internationally.
He wrote that Pakistan has been on the grey list since June 2018 and in every plenary session, the FATF decides that Pakistan will continue to remain on the increased monitoring list- Grey List.
“It is now crystal clear that some inimical countries are using the FATF as a tool to put Pakistan under pressure with ulterior motives,” he added. He writes that it is discrimination against Pakistan especially when our compliance is more than 88 percent in fulfilling the demands of the FATF.
He expressed that it was strange to note that many other states with more non-compliance to the FATF are enjoying absolute immunity.
He writes, “I would like to further state that the USA has non-compliance of 22.5 percent, France 25 percent, Israel 12.5 percent, and Japan 27.5 percent but none of these states are placed on the Grey List. Similarly, India has failed to meet the targets given by the FATF, yet no proceeding against it”.
Pakistan has the right to know as to why this discrimination is against it when countries with a higher percentage of non-compliance to the FATF are not placed on Grey List, while Pakistan continues to be victimised without cogent reasons, he stressed.
He questioned how can a country like the USA be entertained as a complainant, which is itself non-compliant to the FATF?
In his letter, Malik has advised PM Khan to consider directing the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to file a petition/complaint in the ICJ against the FATF’s discrimination and continued victimisation of Pakistan based on the above-quoted facts.
He writes to the PM, “I would like to propose an offensive policy instead of remaining defensive as I believe that FATF will continue to place Pakistan on its enhanced monitoring list unless we bring its discrimination to ICJ for justice”.
In a separate letter to President FATF Dr Marcus Pleyer, Malik has requested to investigate the confessional statement of the Indian foreign minister by a special team of the FATF.
The former interior minister questions the FATF that Pakistan has the right to know as to why this discrimination with it when countries with a higher percentage of non-compliance to the FATF are not placed on Grey List, while Pakistan is being victimised continuously, which is damaging its economy constantly.
“Among the FATF defaulter countries, G-8 members USA, France, Japan, and Russia also included. Moreover, how can a country which is itself non-compliance to the FATF could be the complainant against another member state and the rest of the world also know that Pakistan has remained the victim of war on terror which was, in fact, USA war on terror,” his letter reads.
He reminds FATF that he was on record with the FATF that India is behind keeping Pakistan in ‘Grey List’ duly complained by the USA and he had earlier apprehended that FATF was not going to take Pakistan out of its grey list due to political pressure and influence by some countries. He pens that the secret of keeping Pakistan continuously in the FATF’s grey list has been unveiled by the Indian foreign minister’s confessional statement, wherein, he had stated, “Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Narendra Modi ensured that Pakistan remained on the ‘grey list’ of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Due to us, Pakistan is under the lens of FATF and it was kept on the grey list.”
He stressed that the confession of the Indian foreign minister has raised a big question on the integrity and transparency of the FATF and confirms the Indian involvement in pushing Pakistan into the FATF’s grey list.
Unfortunately, the FATF has not yet moved any action against Indian minister to prove its neutrality, he said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021