Pakistan remains safe heaven for terror groups

Pakistan continues to give shelter to terrorists, in fact Prime Minister Imran Khan himself had admitted at the General Assembly last year about the presence of 40,000-50,000 terrorists inside Pakistan.

Hyderabad: Pakistan continues to remain a safe heaven for terror groups despite the world's knowledge about it.

Pakistan has released under compulsion two lists of terrorist recently to avoid tougher sanctions by Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organization that designs and promotes policies and standards to combat financial crime.

The list includes details of 88 banned terrorist organizations and their leaders. It also named Dawood Ibrahim, the mastermind of the 1993 Bombay blast. Within a few days of its announcement, it seized the assets of Dawood and other terrorists, however the country later denied the claims of giving shelter to any terrorist.

Some psephologists say, in an attempt to be dropped from the Financial Action Task Force's grey list, Pakistan banned 88 new terrorists, in compliance with the new list issued by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

The issue of terror financing came under the purview of a special task force set up at the G7 summit in Paris in 2001 to control 'money laundering'. Last year, the Imran Khan government itself acknowledged that there were 30-40 thousand active terrorists in Pakistan.

For years, Pakistan has been trying every possible way to escalate terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir as well as in other states. Ahead of India's 74th Independence Day, a terror plot was busted; the threat was later averted.

With the support of China, Turkey and Malaysia, Pakistan has been escaping the action of FATF. However, its real nature has been exposed to the world time and again. Further, India made it clear in the Security Council three weeks ago that a joint fortified strategy against Pakistan-sponsored militants could save humanity from catastrophe.