ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday criticized the opposition for not supporting new legislation that could help the country be removed from a grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), saying that political rivals were only interested in protecting their “ill-gotten wealth.”
The government convened a joint sitting of parliament on Wednesday to get three bills passed after 104 members of the country’s Senate, which is dominated by opposition factions, rejected the laws over reservations they would be used to trample civil liberties.
The bills were passed amid protest and uproar by the opposition, as 200 parliamentarians voted in favor of them while 190 voted against them. The assembly also rejected all the amendments introduced by opposition lawmakers with a majority vote.
“It is my conviction that the interests of Pakistan are not the same as the interests of opposition leaders,” the prime minister said while speaking on the floor of the house.
He said the country would face severe economic sanctions if it was blacklisted by the global financial watchdog over money laundering and terror financing.
“I was expecting the opposition to support the legislation because this is in Pakistan’s interest,” he added.
The FATF placed Pakistan, a nation of 220 million, on its grey list due to inadequate controls over terror financing in June 2018, giving it a 27-point action plan that also included strengthening its legal framework by passing new laws.
Islamabad is now required to submit a compliance report with the FATF until September 30, or its status will be downgraded to a blacklist that includes countries like North Korea and Iran. Being blacklisted would mean Pakistan would be shunned by international financial institutions, causing severe economic hardships.
Pakistan has long been accused of supporting militant groups and using them as proxies to advance its interests in the region, though Islamabad categorically denies such accusations.
A minimum of three votes by FATF members are needed to avoid the organization’s blacklist, and Pakistan has so far managed to avoid it due to the support of China and other friendly nations, including Malaysia and Turkey.
Officials in Islamabad claim Pakistan has done much to comply with the FATF conditions, including an unprecedented conviction of Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, on charges of terror financing.
Analysts believe that the most crucial aspect of compliance with the FATF in Pakistan’s case would be to effectively prevent militant groups from openly operating and raising funds.
The global watchdog has pushed Pakistan to adequately identify, assess and understand risks associated with the presence of militant groups in the country.
Addressing the media, the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party’s lawmaker, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, said the government had enacted “black laws” on the pretext of FATF, adding that these laws were against civil liberties and interests of Pakistan.
“We moved the amendments [in the draft laws],” he said, “but the government unfortunately rejected them.”
Pakistan passes new laws in push to be removed from FATF grey list
https://arab.news/racfr
Pakistan passes new laws in push to be removed from FATF grey list
- Prime Minister Imran Khan criticizes the opposition for not supporting the legislation
- Opposition parties accuse the government of enacting ‘black laws’ on the pretext of satisfying FATF's conditions
Pakistan calls for calm after 16 people killed in Khamenei protests
- The violence came hours after Iranian authorities confirmed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in coordinated US-Israeli strikes
- Nine people were killed in clashes in Karachi where protesters stormed US consulate, while UN offices were set ablaze in Gilgit, Skardu
ISLAMABAD/KARACHI/GILGIT/PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Sunday urged calm after at least 16 people were killed in protests linked to the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in joint US-Israeli strikes.
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the US consulate in Karachi on Sunday morning. Videos showed protesters armed with sticks smashing doors and windows. Separate footage appeared to show property inside the consulate premises set on fire, prompting police to fire tear gas at them.
In Islamabad, protesters entered the Red Zone which houses key government and diplomatic offices in the capital, prompting authorities to fire tear gas to disperse the demonstrators. Similarly, people gathered outside the press club in the northwestern city of Peshawar, from where they were marching toward the US consulate.
At least nine people were killed and 60 others sustained injuries in clashes with law enforcement outside the US consulate in Karachi, according to authorities. Seven more were killed in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, where clashes left 45 people injured.
“After the martyrdom of Ayatollah Khamenei, every citizen of Pakistan is saddened in the same way as the citizens of Iran are grieving,” Naqvi was quoted as saying by his ministry.
“We are all with you. We request the citizens not to take the law into their hands, and to record their protest peacefully.”
Naqvi visited different areas of Islamabad and reviewed the law-and-order situation, according to the interior ministry. He ordered foolproof security arrangements at the Diplomatic Enclave, which is home to foreign missions, in Islamabad’s Red Zone.
PROTESTERS STORM US CONSULATE IN KARACHI
Additional Inspector General Karachi Azad Khan told reporters that protesters had managed to enter the US consulate from the outer gate before police dispersed them.
“Nine people are dead while 39 injured are being treated at the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Institute of Trauma,” Karachi Police surgeon Dr. Summaiya Syed said in a statement.
She said seven others were injured at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, among them five police personnel, while 14 others were receiving treatment for wounds at private hospitals in the city.
Separately, the Sindh provincial government expressed grief at the loss of lives in the clashes outside the US consulate in Karachi, saying it had constituted a high-level joint investigation committee (JIT) to carry out an impartial investigation into the incident.
“The JIT will determine the circumstances in which the incident occurred and what its causes were,” a statement by the provincial government said, adding that it respects the constitutional right of citizens to protest.
VIOLENCE IN GILGIT-BALTISTAN
In GB, protesters set fire to and vandalized several buildings, including United Nations (UN) regional offices, according to Shabbir Mir, who speaks for the GB chief minister. Religious leaders were trying to quell the protests.
“Seven people were killed and 45 were injured in today’s clashes in Gilgit,” Dr. Wajahat Hussain, a senior health official in Gilgit, told Arab News on Sunday.
Tufail Mir, a deputy inspector-general of police, told Arab News several people were injured in the Skardu district as well.
MIDDLE EAST TENSIONS
The violence came hours after Iranian authorities confirmed Khamenei was killed in coordinated strikes carried out by the US and Israel, dramatically escalating tensions in the Middle East and triggering protests in several countries.
According to US officials, the operation targeted Revolutionary Guard command facilities, air defense systems, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields. The US military said it suffered no casualties and reported minimal damage to its bases despite what it described as “hundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks.”
Iran retaliated by launching missiles and drones toward Israel and targeting US military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE. The Emirati government said its air defense systems intercepted dozens of Iranian missiles and drones, but debris from the interceptions caused material damage in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and at least one civilian, a Pakistani national, was killed. It issued rare emergency alerts urging residents to seek shelter, underscoring how the conflict has rippled far beyond Iran’s borders.
The Israeli military said dozens of Iranian missiles were fired toward Israeli territory, many of which were intercepted. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said a woman in the Tel Aviv area died after being wounded in a missile strike.
