As FATF sword hangs over Pakistan, its army claims of killing 4 terrorists
Sep 13, 2020
Islamabad [Pakistan], September 13 : The Pakistani military on Sunday said that security forces have killed a terrorist commander along with three other terrorists in the Waziristan area of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
An army statement said that "in a major breakthrough, terrorist commander Ihsan Ullah alias Ihsan Sanray along with three other terrorists (were) killed during an intelligence-based operation today (Sunday) in Ghariom, Shaktu near the inter-district boundary of North and South Waziristan" tribal districts.
The military's media wing said Sanray masterminded numerous terrorist activities.
"More recently he was involved in planning and execution of terrorist attacks in Shaktu area which led to the martyrdom of several soldiers and officers including Lt Nasir (Shaheed) and Capt Sabih (Shaheed)," the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a tweet on Sunday.
The killing of terrorists comes ahead of a crucial meeting of Asia-Pacific Joint Group of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which is scheduled for September 15-16. Pakistan will be on the agenda. The country is facing the daunting task of clearing its name from the FATF grey list.
Pakistan is in the grey list since June 2018 and the government was given a final warning in February to complete the remaining action points by June 2020.
The FATF extended the June deadline to September due to the spread of coronavirus that disrupted the FATF plenary meetings. Meanwhile, Pakistan is making attempts to avoid a demotion from the FATF grey list to the blacklist during the upcoming October plenary meeting.
While Pakistan tries to showcase its 'efforts' in combatting terrorism, there have been reports from Afghanistan giving ample evidence of the presence of Pakistani terrorists on its land. In recent weeks, Pakistan has been trying to paint a picture that it has started the reforms including the passing of bills in order to prevent blacklisting by the FATF.
In late July, Pakistan Financial Monitoring Unit director-general Lubna Farooq told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance that the country is yet to comply with 13 conditions out of the 27-point Action Plan of the FATF including curbing terror financing, enforcement of the laws against the proscribed organizations and improving the legal systems.
