(February 20, 2019)
President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President All Karachi Industrial Alliance (AKIA), Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister, Mian Zahid Hussain on Wednesday said that Pakistan is 3rd most affected country by terrorism in the world, which has lost 6 thousand armed personals, 70 thousand civilians and $ 120 billion to the economy. Terrorism in the country has reduced by 70 percent given to the military operations Zarb e Azb and Raddul Fasad for which civil military leadership is appreciated. Pakistan has taken solid measures to avoid FATF’s blacklisting and banned suspicious outfits and people.
The Veteran Business Leader while talking to the business community said that Pakistan’s delegation under the leadership of secretary finance Arif Ahmed Khan is present in Paris to attend the ongoing meeting from 18 – 22 February to respond to five important questions raised on insist of India. Pakistani institutions have stopped 8500 suspicious transactions till September 2018, which is 75 percent higher than that of the corresponding year. Pakistan enhanced the role of modern technology against terror financing, money laundering and smuggling which FATF itself acknowledged in a meeting held in January 2019.
The Former Minister said that India has started blaming Pakistan for Palwama incident without any evidence and its media is constantly busy in lobbying against Pakistan. Prime Minister Imran Khan has deliberately offered assistance on the basis of concrete evidences; his speech on the incident was voice of nation wherein he strongly condemned the Indian media and government blaming Pakistan for terror attacks.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that Pakistan has formed several laws and implemented new regulation to fight terror financing and money laundering but political support is vital to avoid black listing by FATF from the friendly countries including China, Saudi Arabia, UAE and EU as US and India are strongly in efforts of blacklisting Pakistan.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that economic challenges of Pakistan will be increased further if Pakistan is included in the FATF blacklist. Multilateral monitory institutions including IMF, WB and ADB will stop financing, interest rate will rise and FDI will be adversely affected given to shaking investors’ confidence. The Govt. should look for all possible measures to avoid blacklisting.
