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Hans India
4 days ago
- Business
- Hans India
FATF slams 'brutal' Pahalgam terror attack, says it could not have occurred without 'money and means'
Paris/New Delhi: In a major development, the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Monday severely condemned the "brutal terrorist attack" in Pahalgam on April 22, stating that it could not have taken place without "money and the means" to move funds between terrorist supporters. "Terrorist attacks kill, maim and inspire fear around the world. The FATF notes with grave concern and condemns the brutal terrorist attack in Pahalgam on 22 April 2025. This, and other recent attacks, could not occur without money and the means to move funds between terrorist supporters," the FATF said in a statement on Monday after its plenary meeting. It mentioned further: "As highlighted by the FATF President at the recent No Money for Terror Conference in Munich, no single company, authority, or country can combat this challenge alone. We must be unified against the scourge of global terrorism. Because terrorists need to succeed only once to achieve their goal, while we have to succeed every time to prevent it." As many as 26 innocent tourists were massacred in the Pakistan-sponsored terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam. Investigations into the Pahalgam terror attack brought out the communication nodes of terrorists in and to Pakistan. A group calling itself The Resistance Front (TRF) - a front for the UN-proscribed Pakistani terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba - had claimed responsibility for the attack. India had given inputs about the TRF in the half-yearly report to the Monitoring Team of the United Nations' 1267 Sanctions Committee in May and November 2024, bringing out its role as a cover for Pakistan-based terrorist groups. Earlier too, in December 2023, India had informed the monitoring team about LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammad operating through small terror groups such as the TRF. Pakistan's pressure to remove references to TRF in the April 25 UN Security Council Press Statement were highlighted by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) during Operation Sindoor. Asserting that Pakistan has a history of misusing bailout packages for cross-border terrorism, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had called for putting the failed state back on the FATF grey list. "The state and non-state actors are two sides of the same coin in Pakistan, which became evident when designated terrorists were accorded funerals with state honours," Singh said earlier this month. The FATF, which develops and promotes policies to protect the global financial system against money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, has acknowledged in the past that India has suffered from the effects of terrorism consistently since its independence in 1947 and still faces a "disparate range of terrorism threats", categorised into different theatres. Speaking exclusively with IANS recently, several experts, including former diplomats and counterterrorism experts, backed a strong action against Pakistan, including by putting the country back on the grey list of the FATF for its continuous involvement in terror financing and backing global terror outfits. "Terror doesn't come out of the blue. It's something that has to be financed, structured and so forth. So, it's a long, concerted action that lies behind all this terror. Therefore, you need to do whatever you can globally, also regionally, to secure that we don't have financing that will flow into the streams of terror. It has to stop. Pakistan has to be put where they belong. So, they have to be put on that list, no doubt about that," Freddy Svane, the former Danish Ambassador to India, told IANS in an exclusive interview, earlier this month.
News18
10-06-2025
- Politics
- News18
'Asking Cat To Guard Milk': Rajnath Singh Objects To Pakistan's Role At UNSC Anti-Terror Panel
Last Updated: Pakistan have been appointed to chair the Taliban Sanctions Committee of the UNSC in 2025 and serve as vice-chair of the 1373 Counter-Terrorism Committee of the 15-nation UN body. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said that the United Nations Security Council's (UNSC) decision to appoint Pakistan as the vice-chair of its anti-terror panel was like 'asking the cat to protect the milk." Pakistan will chair the Taliban Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in 2025 and serve as vice-chair of the 1373 Counter-Terrorism Committee of the 15-nation UN body. 'The most recent example is that Pakistan has been made the Vice-Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Panel by the UNSC. The surprising thing is that this panel was formed after the 9/11 attacks. And we all know who carried out the 9/11 attacks. It is also not hidden from anyone that Pakistan had sheltered the mastermind of that attack. This is like asking a cat to guard the milk," said Rajnath Singh while addressing the media in Uttarakhand. 'This decision is not only shocking but also reflects the seriousness of an organisation like the UN on the issue of terrorism. How can one forget that this is the same Pakistan whose land has been used as a safe haven for global terrorist organisations," he added. According to the UNSC, Pakistan will also be co-chair of the Informal Working Groups on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions and on the General UNSC Sanctions Issues. For the 2025-26 term, Pakistan is a non-permanent member of the 15-nation Security Council. The sanctions committees of the Council include all 15 members of the Security Council and make its decisions by consensus. The current Security Council comprises five permanent members: China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US, and ten non-permanent members: Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and Somalia. India has held the chair of the UNSC Counter-terrorism Committee for 2022 during its 2021-22 tenure in the Council as a non-permanent member. Notably, New Delhi has consistently reminded the international community that Pakistan is host to the world's largest number of UN-proscribed terrorists and terror groups. First Published: June 10, 2025, 17:21 IST
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First Post
10-06-2025
- Business
- First Post
FATF can salvage its counter-terrorism credentials by cracking down on Pakistan
With the second meeting of the FATF scheduled to commence today, countries interested in the fight against terrorism and its financing need to re-evaluate Pakistan's role in failing to crack down on terrorism from its soil read more Should the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) take a sharper and closer look at Pakistan's counter-terrorism reality? With the second meeting of the FATF scheduled to commence on 10 June 2025, like-minded countries invested in the fight against terrorism and its financing need to re-evaluate Pakistan's role in failing to crack down on terrorism from its soil. Pakistan has thrice been listed on FATF's Grey List in the past, from 2008-2010, 2012-2015 and 2018-2022. The third time around, it landed on the list after the motion was initiated by the United States and supported by the United Kingdom, France and Germany due to Pakistan's glaring deficiencies in counter-terrorist financing (CFT). STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The recent events around the conduct of Operation Sindoor are a stark reality check on the complicity of the Pakistani state in supporting, funding and participating in terrorism. If the world needed any further proof, Pakistan did not hesitate to provide it in full glare of the world media. Shortly after the successful precision strikes, senior military commanders stood in solidarity at the funeral prayer meeting, led by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist commander Hafiz Abdul Rauf. Pakistani military personnel went a step further by carrying the coffins of terrorists to reinforce their support and backing for UN-proscribed terrorist groups and their leaders. Terrorist leaders from the LeT and JuD have since been seen openly galvanising support for terrorism from Pakistan and collecting funds to provide an impetus to their 'jihad'. The Pakistani 'establishment' and terrorist handlers are confident that, having escaped the FATF clutches, they can continue to support terrorism as a state policy. Pakistan has been at pains to highlight Kashmir as the point of contention with India. On the contrary, it is Pakistan's employment of terrorism as an instrument of hybrid war that should remain the focus of attention of world capitals. And the best way to curb Pakistani adventurism is to retain strict control over the proliferation of terrorism by organisations like the FATF. There is no better way to ensure stability in the region and restrict the export from the terrorism factory of the world, and curbing its funding. The FATF is a 40-member, inter-governmental, multinational body that acts as a 'watchdog' against money laundering and terrorist financing. India is a member of the grouping. The FATF sets standards to fight terrorist finance and, along with its affiliated bodies, evaluates member countries for their compliance with its guidelines. This includes technical compliance, such as the absence of or inadequacy of laws. More importantly, its focus on the effectiveness of implementation highlights weaknesses or, worse, wilful defiance of countries like Pakistan in fighting terrorism. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Pakistan's last evaluation by the FATF was done in 2019. Its report was a national embarrassment for the country, at the very least. If Pakistan's evaluation is compared to a student's school report card, then, of the 11 effectiveness parameters, Pakistan failed in 10 and got a compartment in one! The rowdy kid's abysmal report card was not a sign of inability or a lack of resources to study. It came from the confidence to successfully fool not only the class teacher but the entire school faculty. This does not come as a surprise, given the country's record of nurturing and sheltering UN proscribed terrorist groups and their commanders. The evaluation report noted that 'Several UN-listed organisations continue to operate openly in Pakistan, including holding fundraising events.' Pakistan has mastered the art of obfuscating reality and window dressing the true face of its parallel terror economy. The appeasement of major powers by handing over selective terrorist leaders and promising to safeguard economic interests like the CPEC corridor is not a guarantee against the spread of the contagion. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD If the FATF does intend to expose Pakistan's age-old strategy of running with the hares and hunting with the hounds, then its record of fighting terrorism deserves closer scrutiny. Member countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany that have been victims of Pakistan's terror factories should support India's attempt at stabilising the region by curbing the funding of terrorism in Pakistan. The international community must realise that the Pakistani establishment's repeated claims of being a victim of terrorism are inherently flawed. It is not the West that is responsible for Pakistan's terror woes, unlike Defence Minister Khawaja Asif's repeated assertions. It is Pakistan's strategy of promoting extremist thought and sowing jihadi ideology that is hollowing its social fabric. Pakistan has been fooling the world by selectively fighting terrorism and equally selectively sharing figures of terrorists prosecuted and acted against. If this continues, little change can be expected. It is time to reintroduce the motion in the FATF to at least place Pakistan on the Grey List. This is despite the reality of mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the blackest of them all? Pakistan. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Col Vivek Chadha (Retd) is a Senior Fellow at Manohar Parrikar IDSA. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
News18
07-06-2025
- Politics
- News18
'Masood Azhar For Peace…': Priyanka Chaturvedi Rips Into UN Over Pakistan's Anti-Terror Role
Last Updated: Slamming the UNSC for appointing Pakistan as the vice-chair of the anti-terror panel, Chaturvedi said the decision is like saying Masood Azhar to be the professor of global peace. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Saturday called out Pakistan's role and the irony of its position on the United Nations Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee, saying that 52 designated terrorists reside in Pakistan. Slamming the UNSC for appointing Pakistan as the vice-chair of the anti-terror panel, Chaturvedi said the decision is like saying Masood Azhar to be the professor of global peace. 'Pakistan has become a part of the UN Security Council. You all are aware that 52 terrorists reside in Pakistan. But they have been given the vice chairmanship of counter-terrorism," the Rajya Sabha MP, who is currently in Germany's Berlin as part of all-party delegation, said. #WATCH | Berlin, Germany | Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi says, 'We are often told that India is a tolerant nation, yes India is a tolerant nation. We are a land of Mahatma and Buddha, but we are also the land of Krishna. Whenever there is injustice and we have to fight… — ANI (@ANI) June 7, 2025 'It is just like saying Masood Azhar to be the professor of global peace…It needs to be called out. The whole world is suffering due to this…" she added. Highlighting India's dual legacy — of peace from Mahatma Gandhi and Buddha, and of righteous resistance from Lord Krishna, Chaturvedi declared that India will not hesitate to fight terror in pursuit of justice. 'We are often told that India is a tolerant nation, yes, India is a tolerant nation. We are a land of Mahatma and Buddha, but we are also the land of Krishna. Whenever there is injustice and we have to fight with the terrorists to serve justice, we will do that without any hesitation…" she added. Chaturvedi is a member of the delegation led by BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, which includes BJP MPs Daggubati Purandeswari and Samik Bhattacharya, Congress MPs Ghulam Ali Khatana and Amar Singh, former Union Minister MJ Akbar, and former Ambassador Pankaj Saran. Pakistan, a non-permanent member of the Security Council for the 2025-26 term, Pakistan will chair the Taliban Sanctions Committee of the UNSC. Apart from chairing the UNSC Taliban Sanctions Committee, Pakistan will also be the vice-chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the 15-nation UN body. According to a list of chairs of the subsidiary bodies of the UN Security Council, Denmark will chair the 1267 ISIL and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council, while Russia and Sierra Leone will be vice-chairs for 2025. Meanwhile, India, which co-chaired the Counter Terrorism Committee in 2022, has consistently reminded the international community that Pakistan is host to the world's largest number of UN-proscribed terrorists and entities, including notorious terrorist Osama bin Laden, who was found and eliminated by American forces in Pakistan in 2011. (With inputs from agencies)
News18
07-06-2025
- Politics
- News18
Why Pakistan's Taliban Sanctions Panel Role At UNSC Is No Victory, Here's The Fine Print
Last Updated: While Pakistan will chair the UNSC Taliban Sanctions Committee, it is no victory for Islamabad - due to its poor record on terrorism - as it received far less than what it wanted. While Pakistan is set to chair the Taliban Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council in 2025, it failed to get what it wanted – to secure chairmanship of other UN Sanctions Committees – possibly due to its dismal record of keeping cross-border terrorism emanating from the country in check. Apart from chairing the UNSC Taliban Sanctions Committee, Pakistan will also be the vice-chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the 15-nation UN body. According to a list of chairs of the subsidiary bodies of the UN Security Council, Denmark will chair the 1267 ISIL and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council, while Russia and Sierra Leone will be vice-chairs for 2025. However, Pakistan has actually received far less than what it wanted, given the world's doubts on Islamabad's credibility. For the first time in the history of the UN Security Council, the Informal Working Group (IWG) on Sanctions will have two co-chairs. Pakistan will co-chair the documentation IWG with Denmark and the Sanctions IWG with Greece. What Did Pakistan Want? Pakistan had demanded the 1267 Sanctions Committee; 1540 (Non-Proliferation) Sanctions Committee; 1988 (Taliban) Committee and Chair of the 1373 Counter Terrorism Committee (CTC), but only got the Taliban Sanctions Committee, much less than what it had wanted. Pakistan is also co-chairing the 1373 CTC, which is not very substantial and is merely ceremonial in nature. India had chaired the 1373 CTC in 2011 and in the committees require consensus of members, so the current allocation is far below the expectations of Pakistani leadership. In reality, the allocation has dealt a heavy blow to Pakistan, as its allocation remains far below its expectations despite sending a delegation – led by Bilawal Bhutto – to the UN, possibly due to its poor track record on cross-border terrorism. Despite failing to curb terrorism on its soil, Pakistan showed an uncompromising and undeserving attitude that delayed a consensus from being formed by six months, which greatly annoyed other UNSC members. India's Diplomatic Outreach India, which co-chaired the Counter Terrorism Committee in 2022, has consistently reminded the international community that Pakistan is host to the world's largest number of UN-proscribed terrorists and entities, including notorious terrorist Osama bin Laden, who was found and eliminated by American forces in Pakistan in 2011. In a big blow to Pakistan, Russia and Guyana – both sharing cordial ties with India – are vice-chairs in the Taliban Sanctions Committee, which will prevent Pakistan from gaining a free hand. Pakistan is also co-chairing two IWGs with Denmark and Greece, who are also friends with India. This means that India can use its diplomatic might and close partnership with friends in the Council to prevent Pakistan from making any adverse steps. Notably, India had also chaired the same 1988 (Taliban) Sanctions Committee during its UNSC 2021-22 term along with the Chair of the 1970 Libya Sanctions Committee. First Published: June 07, 2025, 15:20 IST
