New Delhi: Imran Khan has delivered the fodder that India needs to beef up its evidences against Pakistan for financing terraorists at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). India is trying to blacklist Pakistan at the FATF, an international body which seeks to stop money laundering and financial support to terrorists.
Imran Khan during his three day visit to the United States literally admitted that there were 30,000 to 40,000 terrorists in Pakistan at the moment. He also admitted that these terrorists had fought in Kashmir and Afghanistan.
He made this admission while speaking at a think tank, United States Institute of Peace.
The Pakistani Prime Minister said, “Until we came into power, the governments did not have the will to [implement the National Action Plan], because if you talk of militant groups, they still have about 30,000-40,000 people who are armed and who have been trained in some sort of a theatre, who fought either in Afghanistan or maybe in Kashmir.”
Imran Khan also latter said that 40 militant groups were active in Pakistan during the period after 9/11 attacks in the United States.
Khan’s admission of the presence of militants is just the opposite of what the powerful Pakistan’s army is saying. The Pakistani Army had maintained that there were no terrorist organizations in Pakistan.
The number of terrorists given by Imran Khan is higher than what the Pakistani authorities have reported to the FATF. While Pakistan informed the FATF that there were only 8,000 terrorists, the Pakistani Prime Minister himself says that there are between 30,000 and 40,000 terrorists in the country. This raises the question about the effectiveness of Pakistan’s compliance of the FATF Action Plan to escape being black listed.
India will surely use this information to argue at FATF that Pakistan is indeed a haven of terrorists and is being financially supported by the government.
Pakistan is at present in the grey list of the FATF, which makes it extremely hard to receive financial aid from other countries and organizations. The country is facing a possible black listing in October if it fails to comply with the FATF Action Plan. Once blacklisted, the country will be unable to receive any financial help until it cleans its house.
This could cripple the already ailing economy of Pakistan and could lead to an overall collapse of the country.
