Why in news?
- Global pressures and sanctions were levied upon Pakistan to act against terror groups.
- Despite of international sanctionsLakshar terrorist Hafiz Saeed has remained largely free in Pakistan.
What are the international pressures on Pakistan?
- Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body which has set standards for regulatory measures to combat money laundering and terror financing.
- The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary decided to put Pakistan back on the “grey list”. Click here to know more
- By this Pakistan will subject to direct monitoring and intense scrutiny by the International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG) on terror financing, pending further review in June 2018.
- China and Saudi Arabia voted against Pakistan at the FATF, and India succeeded in shaping global opinion against Pakistan.
- The US has compelled Pakistan to initiate stringent action against terror groups.
- For which US piloted a resolution against Pakistan to put it in the global terror finance watch list.
What is the status of Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan?
- Hafiz Saeed is the founder andforemost leader of the Lashkar terrorist group.
- In 2008 Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists killed more than 150 people at multiple locations across Mumbai.
- Despite international sanctions on the Lashkar and sustained global pressure on Pakistan to act against terrorist groups, Hafiz Saeed has remained largely free.
- He intends to join mainstream politics and is scheduled to release the manifesto of his party, Milli Muslim League.
- He has also challenged government’s decision in court for freezing his bank accounts and taking over assets linked to his organisation under the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018.
What are the actions taken by Pak onterror groups?
- Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jamaat-ud-Dawa(JuD) and Falah-i-lnsaniyat Foundation (FIF) are placed under Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.
- They have also attracted sanctions under the United Nations Security Council Resolution and have been dealt accordingly.
- To avoid grey-listing, Pakistan promulgated an Ordinance amending the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, to include terrorist organisations listed by the UNSC.
- Consequently, JuD and FIF were declared as proscribed groups, and all their properties in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan were confiscated.
- Election Commission of Pakistan acted on a recommendation by the Pakistan Interior Ministry, citing Milli Muslim League‘s (MML) links with banned militant outfits.
What moves of Pak concerns global peace makers?
- Recently Islamabad High Court set aside the Election Commission’s resolution refusing registration for JuD’s political front, (MML).
- Following the HC order MML can contest the parliamentary elections scheduled for July 2018.
- Pak’s action against the JuD and FIF was aimed at evading grey listing by the FATF which had created a turmoil in the country.
- Lashkar has long been considered a “good” terrorist group by the Pakistan army, which has used it as a proxy against India and Afghanistan.
- An influential section in the Army reportedly believes that Hafiz Saeed is too big taking him on directly will have unmanageable consequences.
- Thus Limited action against Saeed’s groups is unlikely to satisfy the FATF.
Source: Indian Express
