As part of its larger game plan and to deflect criticism that it backs terrorism, mainly against India, Pakistan had announced a reward of Rs 70 lakh (Pakistani currency) against Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) founder Maulana Masood Azhar. A week ago, some Pakistani newspapers and portals had carried reports that Masood was no longer in Pakistan and had moved to Afghanistan.
On Wednesday (September 9), Kabul had categorically denied that Masood Azhar was based there. The Taliban government had rejected Pakistan’s claim that the JeM founder is operating from Afghanistan. Kabul said Afghan territory will not be used against any country. Such statements regarding Masood Azhar operating out of Afghanistan territory are aimed at misleading the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Incidentally, the FATF’s plenary year begins in July and ends in June. During a plenary year, the FATF holds three plenary meetings, a meeting of experts on typologies, and, depending on the focus of current work, inter-sessional meetings and meetings of various ad hoc groups. The plenary meetings usually take place in October, February and June of each year.
First FATF plenary to review many actions
All of these meetings are only open to delegations from FATF members, observer jurisdictions and observer organisations. They are not open to the public and the next plenary has been scheduled for October 26, at Paris (in France). At this plenary, FATF Working Group Meetings will be held and a review of performance of many countries with regard to steps initiated to curb terrorism will be done.
Pakistan can also face heat from Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG). According to FATF, the purpose of the APG is to ensure the adoption, implementation and enforcement of internationally accepted anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing standards. These standards have been set out in the FATF Forty Recommendations and Pakistan can fail on many of these points.
The APG group’s effort include assisting countries and territories of the region in enacting laws to deal with the proceeds of crime, mutual legal assistance, confiscation, forfeiture and extradition; providing guidance in setting up systems for reporting and investigating suspicious transactions and helping in the establishment of financial intelligence units. The APG also enables regional factors to be taken into account in the implementation of anti-money laundering measures.
JeM, LeT activities bring Pakistan under scanner
The open collection of funds by various UN-designated terrorist organisations like Lashkar e Toiba (LeT) and Jaish e Muhammad (JeM) in cities of Pakistan is under the lens. However, it has so far managed to show some progress on some of the issues and managed to dodge the punitive measures of the FATF.
Azhar is a wanted terrorist in India for orchestrating several major terror attacks, including Parliament attack of December 13, 2001, and the Pulwama attack of February 14, 2019.For the past several months, he has not been seen in public though Indian intelligence agencies believe he continues to be in Pakistan. Under the protection, and guidance of their Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) which handles all terror activities, their funding as also execution.
Ahead of the upcoming FATF) plenary, Pakistan has added JeM chief Masood Azhar to the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Red Book of most-wanted terrorists. The FIA has declared that this reward will be given to anyone who helps in Masood’s capture.
A step taken to bluff global forums
Pakistan’s move is being viewed by most analysts as a symbolic step aimed at demonstrating that Islamabad is taking action against terrorism and terror financing. The real intent is to shake off the FATF and not capturing Masood, or others like him.
To further mislead the FATF, the Pakistan government had started calling Baloch nationalist groups fighting against it as Fitna Al Hindustan. It has also been calling the Tehreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as a creation of India for the last one year.
The purported move against the JeM chief comes against the backdrop of long-standing concerns over Pakistan’s record on tackling terror groups operating from its soil. The country is notorious for providing a haven to terrorists and harboured the maximum number of UN designated terrorists, among them the Haqqani network of Afghan Taliban for many years.
Links between terror groups and Pakistan’s military have also been an open secret, raising questions over the seriousness of Islamabad’s efforts to dismantle these networks. Actually, these networks are considered important proxies and valuable assets for waging an asymmetric war against India.
Last year, in the month of July, JeM founder Maulana Masood Azhar was reportedly spotted in Gilgit-Baltistan region, more than 1,000 km from his Bahawalpur stronghold. The reported sighting came despite Pakistan’s earlier claims that Azhar had gone missing from the country and was believed to be hiding in neighbouring Afghanistan.
The Taliban regime has also rejected Pakistan’s repeated claims that Azhar is operating from Afghanistan.
The latest bounty is also not the first time Pakistan has offered a reward for information leading to Azhar’s capture. In 2021, the FIA had announced a Rs 50 lakh reward for information that could help apprehend him.
The latest FIA Red Book also includes 19 other terrorists accused of assisting the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. The list includes individuals accused of providing financial assistance to the attackers and helping operate the boats used by the terrorists to reach Mumbai.
Meanwhile, some Indian intelligence agencies believe that Azhar may actually be hiding in Nawabshah city in Pakistan’s Sindh province.
Pakistan was placed on the FATF grey list between 2018 and 2022 for systemic deficiencies in anti-money laundering measures and failure to counter terror financing. The key reasons included Pakistan’s failure to curb terror financing, particularly linked to JeM and LeT networks, besides weak implementation of financial sanctions on UN-designated persons.
