ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Tuesday said that the decision by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to put Pakistan in the ‘grey list’ is a move taken on the behest of the United States (US) to pressurise Pakistan into submission.
The move has little to do with terror financing while everything to do with Pakistan’s Afghan policy, which is seen as unfavourable in Washington, PEW President Dr Murtaza Mughal said, adding that the US wants to force Pakistan into submission by shattering its fragile economy through such tactics.
He said, “We should counter US conspiracies as changing important regional policies to please Washington will be a suicide.”
Murtaza Mughal said that the aims of FATF are political otherwise Afghanistan, India, Sudan and Nigeria would also have been included in the list, and the countries known for hiding dirty money including the UK would not have been spared. The US is notorious for hiding dirty money, therefore, the politicians and bureaucrats of Pakistan and dozens of other countries buy properties worth billions over there.
The FATF is a tool to hit Pakistan’s economy, CPEC, banking sector, exports and shatter investors’ confidence as it will increase the cost of doing business, he observed. He said that the move can hurt the stock market and will have an impact on the creditworthiness of the country making borrowing difficult.
Pakistan was included in the grey list in 2012 and it took us three years to come out of it but this time around, the US is so eager that all the friendly nations have also decided not to support Pakistan in the voting. He said that allowing terrorist outfits to operate by changing names and let them participate in the elections has added to the negative impression.
