New Delhi: Around 30-40 exiled dissidents from Balochistan, Tibet, Hong Kong and of the Pashtun and Uyghur communities Saturday protested outside the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) headquarters in Paris urging action against Pakistan.
The top anti-money laundering and terror financing watchdog is set to decide on Pakistan’s ‘grey list’ status at its plenary session from 22-25 March.
Protestors held up placards saying “blacklist Pakistan” and “Why no action against Maulana Masood Azhar?”.
Azhar is the founder and leader of terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed.
The idea of this protest is to remind the FATF of Pakistan’s continued support to terror groups and terror financing, said Paris-based Pakistani journalist and organiser of the protest, Taha Siddiqui, in a video sent to ThePrint.
Siddiqui began living in exile in France in 2018 after armed men from Pakistan government agencies allegedly tried to abduct or assassinate him.
In 2018, Pakistan was placed on the FATF’s list of “jurisdictions under increased monitoring”, more popularly known as the ‘grey list’.
It was given an Action Plan comprising 27 points for compliance with regard to prosecutions, money laundering, terrorism financing, and targeted financial sanctions to choke the flow of funds to designated terrorist organisations, terrorists and their associates.
In October 2020, the watchdog declared that Pakistan complied with 21 of the 27 points of action and decided to keep the country on its ‘grey list’.
‘Pakistan-China nexus’
Alleging a “Pakistan-China nexus” that is protecting Pakistan from being blacklisted, Siddiqui said in the video, “The FATF should not come under the pressure of China, it should not be blackmailed by China.”
In a press release, the protesters said China has defended Pakistan at various multilateral forums on the issue of terrorism.
For example, China blocked the listing of Azhar as a global terrorist at the United Nations Security Council for a decade arguing that there wasn’t enough evidence against Azhar and citing “procedural problems”,” stated the protestors.
They also cited the recent acquittal of terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was sentenced for the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl, by a Pakistani court.
Speaking to ThePrint, Hong Kong activist Kenneth Yeung, 37, who moved to Paris last July, said, “The FATF decision will not only help pushing Pakistan to a relatively healthier condition of financial reforms in the future, but also acts as an indirect but significant role in stopping the spread of Chinese imperialism and genocide in Xinjiang.”
The protesters have also urged the FATF to take cognisance of China-Pakistan projects such as the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that they say “lack transparency”.
Also read: Pakistan is isolated and talking peace. But India knows this game too well by now
Pak is epic-centre of terrorism and should be black listed at the earliest.
Grey list has no practical effect and rest assured nobody has the courage to put Pakistan on black list. Pakistan is like a circus lion that has some fear of the trainer’s whip, but a trainer also has a fear of the lion and knows not to actually hit the lion.
The trainer hit a baby lion in Afghanistan and was mauled by it.
But don’t you think even if a baby lion mauled the trainer, the trainer ensured that the baby lions families are living under constant fear.
And your explanation seems like you pak.is ok to be living in cages.
Pakistan protects it’s world renowned Jihadi terrorists while Indian media & courts too protect terrorists & Urban naxals while serving them Biryani!!
The sold out & shameless Indian & western media (mostly leftist like Print) call Pakistani protesters as dissidents but Khalistani, Indian Jihadis & Urban naxals as human rights activists!!
When it is crystal clear that terrorism is enjoying central place in Pakistan’ national policy, when it is open secrate that Pakistan was involved in many terror attacks all over the world, when entire humanity is convinced that Pak have been involved in terror financing since several decades thats why FATF, IMF ,WB etc had blocked its funding several times , then what’s the point in using phrase “alleged terror financing” in your article’s very first part? FATF decision will not change these historical facts.