FM Qureshi hopes to see Pakistan on FATF white list soon

MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Saturday hoped that Pakistan would be on the white list of The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) soon, maintaining that the US and some other countries would support Pakistan on the FATF issue, The News reported on Sunday.

Pakistan will participate in the virtual meeting on the FATF to be held in Paris.

While inaugurating different road schemes in Union Council 38 of NA-156, Old Shujabad road in Multan, the minister stated that opposition parties formed an alliance after they failed to get the process of accountability of their leaders stopped in return for their support to the FATF-related legislation.

Read more: Pakistan to ensure earliest completion of FATF action plan: Hafeez Shaikh

The foreign minister said the opposition parties' alliance is unnatural and does not seem to last longer. 

People of different thinking, varying ideologies and agendas have assembled in the alliance with the sole objective of stopping the process of accountability, he said, asserting that the government is not afraid of the All Parties Conference (APC) and that the opposition rallies and public meetings are a political process.

"The government will complete its constitutional term no matter what opposition does," said the foreign minister. He, however, added that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leaders should keep in mind that their public meetings and rallies could cause harm to people as it could result in a surge in coronavirus cases in the days to come.

Stating that the sessions were held with the opposition on 34 points to discuss the FATF legislation, the federal minister said that the opposition thought that they could extract favours for their support to the FATF legislation.

The opposition tried hard to achieve what they wanted but failed and resorted to forming the alliance, he added.

'Elements making anti-Pakistan forces happy'

Censuring the elements speaking against the national institutions, Qureshi said that it did not serve the purpose of protecting national interests.

Read more: Pakistan Democratic Movement announces new schedule for anti-govt rallies

The elements, he said, are making anti-Pakistan forces happy through their unwise approach and statements and urged the opposition to avoid attempts to bring about political instability, pleading that it would benefit none.

"We are proud of our institutions and their performance. We are proud of Pakistan's armed forces,” Qureshi said, adding that the government had invited the opposition to jointly thrash out proposals for free, fair, and transparent elections in Gilgit-Baltistan, but they refused.

Speaking on how the government is highlighting the Kashmir cause on international forums, Qureshi said: "The world now knows Kashmiris need their right to self-determination.”

He said that the US is appreciating Pakistan’s role in securing peace in Afghanistan. He urged the United Nations to play its role to bring about peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

FATF virtual meeting scheduled for Oct 21-23

A virtual meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which will decide if Pakistan should be excluded from its ‘grey list’, is scheduled for October 21-23.

The decision would be based on a review of the country’s performance to meet global commitments and standards on the fight against money laundering and terror financing (ML&TF).

According to a local news report, the FATF plenary meeting was earlier scheduled in June but Islamabad got an unexpected breather after the global watchdog against financial crimes temporarily postponed all mutual evaluations and follow-ups deadlines in the wake of grave health risks following the Covid-19 pandemic.