Pakistan faces black list of countries financing terrorism

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Pakistan faces black list of countries financing terrorism

2019-10-15 15:08 Last Updated At：15:50

Pakistan is trying to avoid getting blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force, a global watchdog, when it meets Wednesday in Paris.

A report earlier this month by the task force's Asia Pacific Group, which monitors Pakistan's progress, is not encouraging.

The report says Pakistan has fully implemented only one item from a list of 40 measures that the country should be taking to curb terrorist financing and money laundering. The other 39 measures were either partially implemented or in some cases overlooked entirely.

Iran and North Korea are currently the only two countries on the blacklist.

Being blacklisted would be a serious blow for Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan as he tries to boost its faltering economy and attract foreign investment and loans.

Pakistan got a mixed review for its efforts to curb terrorist financing and money laundering as it tries to avoid getting blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force, a global watchdog, when it meets Wednesday in Paris.

A report earlier this month by the task force's Asia Pacific Group, which monitors Pakistan's progress, was not encouraging. It found Pakistan had fully implemented only one item from a list of 40 measures that the country should be taking to curb terrorist financing and money laundering, if it wants to stay off the blacklist. The other 39 measures were either partially implemented or in some cases overlooked entirely.

Iran and North Korea are currently the only two countries on the blacklist.

Just as Pakistan has been trying to get on its feet financially, having secured a $6 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund and a $6 billion package from Saudi Arabia, it might get knocked back down by getting put on the list.

"It would no longer be business as usual in Pakistan," said Amir Rana, director of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies.

Being blacklisted could even jeopardize Pakistan's multi-billion dollar part in China's Belt and Road Initiative, a global endeavor aimed at reconstituting the Silk Road and linking China to all corners of Asia. In Pakistan, it has been billed as a massive development program that will bring new prosperity to the South Asian nation, where the average citizen lives on just $125 a month.

But if Pakistan is blacklisted, every financial transaction would be closely scrutinized, and doing business in Pakistan would become costly and cumbersome, said Rana. He said restrictions could be imposed on international lending agencies, including the International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, which are all key money lenders to Pakistan.

Rana also said Pakistan hasn't made the institutional changes it needs to seriously tackle terrorism financing and the terrorist-declared groups that still operate in Pakistan — some of whom have been resurrected under new names.

He blamed police and bureaucratic incompetence, mismanagement and a conflicted military and intelligence apparatus. These security agencies are still undecided about whether to break all ties with groups they have long considered "assets," particularly against neighboring India, Pakistan's longtime nemesis.

At one juncture, Rana said Pakistan had sought to differentiate between what it considered bad and worse groups. Authorities put anti-India groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba in the less dangerous category, and put groups like al-Qaida, Tehrik-e-Taliban and the Baluchistan Liberation Army on the more dangerous list.

If Pakistan's security establishment was serious about breaking ties, Rana said, it needs to lay out a plan of action, one that details a reintegration plan for members of these groups as well as a strategy of how it would arrest and prosecute those who carry out acts of terror in other countries.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told reporters Friday that the economic affairs minister Hammad Azhar was already in Paris preparing for the meeting. Pakistan's State-run television on Monday said Azhar presented Pakistan's case to the task force ahead of its deliberations starting Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Qureshi accused neighboring India of lobbying to get his country blacklisted.

"India tried its best to get us blacklisted. God willing, you will see that all such efforts will fail," he said.

Pakistan has reportedly lobbied both Turkey and Malaysia to seek an extension at the task force meeting, promising to be 100% compliant by June 2020.

Qureshi, meanwhile, said the government has spent the last 10 months taking steps to curb both money laundering and terror financing.

But the job is a big one.

Pakistan has banned 66 organizations declared terrorist or terrorist-supporting groups and listed another estimated 7,600 individuals under its anti-terrorism act. India's most wanted man, Hafiz Saeed, lives in Pakistan and has a $10 million U.S.-imposed bounty on his head.

Also based in Pakistan is the terrorist-designated group Jaish-e-Mohammad, which claimed responsibility for a February suicide attack in the Indian-controlled portion of the disputed Kashmir region. That attack killed 40 Indian soldiers and caused tensions to spiral upward between India and Pakistan, bringing the two nuclear-armed nations unsettlingly close to war. They've already fought three wars since Britain ended its colonial rule over the Indian subcontinent in 1947.

Earlier this year, the United Nations added Masood Azhar, the head of Jaish-e-Mohammed, to its blacklist after several unsuccessful attempts. After the February attack, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's government took control of the many schools run by Azhar's group as well as clinics and even an ambulance service.

Dozens of his activists have been arrested, but Rana, the security analyst, said the legal system is hindered by its use of what he called "secret courts." He advocated for a free and transparent court system, rather than the current judicial procedures held behind closed doors or in military courts, also closed to public scrutiny.

The Asia Pacific Group report — which is set to be reviewed during this week's task force meeting — said that while Pakistan seized some assets, the amounts seized were very small considering the extent of the money laundering and terrorist financing believed to be going on in the country. The report also criticized Pakistan's efforts at stemming the movement of illicit money across borders.

The report gave good marks to Pakistan's banks and larger exchange companies at putting in controls to detect and protect against money laundering and terrorism financing. However, it said the State Bank of Pakistan "does not have a clear understanding of the ML (money laundering) and TF (terrorist financing) risks unique to the sectors it supervises." But it is improving, the report added.

Overall, much of the report suggested Pakistan had mostly failed at making the institutional changes needed to ferret out those who finance terror and put an end to it. Whether Pakistan joins Iran and North Korea on the blacklist remains to be seen.

Associated Press writer Asim Tanvir in Multan, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

Athletics express sadness, some relief at moving out of Oakland at the end of the season

2024-04-06 01:24 Last Updated At：01:30

DETROIT (AP) — The Oakland Athletics no longer have to wonder where they'll play the next few seasons. That won't make the long goodbye any easier.

The A's reacted to the announcement that this will be their last year in Oakland with a mixture of sadness and relief.

“At least as a player, you know where you’re headed,” outfielder Seth Brown said Friday before a game against the Tigers in Detroit. “There’s obviously a lot of moving parts, a lot of stuff we’re not privy to, so it’s just been kind of a waiting game on our end. Where are we going to go? Where are we going to be? So I think just having that knowledge -- at least we know where we’re going to be playing next year.”

Vivek Ranadivé, who owns the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, and Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher announced Thursday that the A’s will temporarily relocate to West Sacramento's Sutter Health Park for at least three seasons. The A's are moving to Las Vegas after a new ballpark is constructed.

The River Cats, who are affiliated with the San Francisco Giants, will continue to play at the same facility.

Fisher was unable to reach an agreement with Oakland city officials on extending the lease at Oakland Coliseum, which expires at the end of this season. The A's have played in the city since 1968.

“There's direction now, which we've talked a lot about,” Oakland A's manager Mark Kotsay said. “We've got time to kind of reflect on what this really means from an organizational standpoint, the history that we've had in Oakland, with this being now the final season. There's a lot of emotion that goes behind this.”

It will not only cause some upheaval for the players and staff but also members of the organization that work behind the scenes.

“At the end of the day, we know where we're going to be for the next three seasons after the finish this year and that in itself gives a little bit of stability,” Kotsay said. “At the same time, in the present, it's challenging in certain ways to think about the finality of this organization in Oakland.”

Sacramento will be a much smaller environment to house a major league team. Ranadivé said the River Cats venue currently seats 16,000 when counting the stands, the lawn behind center field and standing room only.

First baseman Ryan Noda is concerned with the facilities. He's hopeful that significant upgrades will be made, much like the Toronto Blue Jays did at Buffalo's Triple-A facility. The Blue Jays played at Buffalo's Sahlen Field in 2020 in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“New walls, new dugouts, new locker rooms — everything they needed to become a big league stadium,” said Noda, who played some games in Sacramento as a minor leaguer. “As long as we can do something like that, then it'll be all right. But it's definitely going to be different than playing in stadiums that hold 40,000 people.”

Kotsay is confident the upgrades will occur.

“I know it will be of major league baseball quality,” he said. “It's has to be of major league baseball quality. I know the Players Association will make sure that takes place, as they did in Buffalo.”

For the rest of this season, the A's will have to deal with small home crowds and disappointed fans.

“We’re sad for the fans, the diehard fans, who always come to our games, always support us, always support the boys wearing the jersey,” Noda said.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Pakistan faces black list of countries financing terrorism

Pakistan faces black list of countries financing terrorism

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Athletics express sadness, some relief at moving out of Oakland at the end of the season