Pakistan got reprieve on terror financing watchlist after action against Afghan refugees: Asif

(Disclaimer: this is a work of fiction. Learn to take a joke; you’ll live longer.)

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has been given a three-month reprieve by a global watchdog over a US-led motion to put the country on a terrorist financing watchlist, after the state took action against Afghan refugees, and people from FATA, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif said late on Tuesday.

Member states of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) met this week in Paris, where it was expected that they would decide on a US motion to have Pakistan added to the so-called ‘grey list’ of countries not doing enough to comply with terrorist-funding regulations.

However, Pakistan’s foreign minister, and former defence minister, confirmed that after taking a look at the state’s action against Afghan refugees and the residents of FATA, the global powers were convinced that Pakistan is indeed taking action against terrorists.

“In this regard, the Pashtun long march was also perfectly timed, because it confirmed military action, and helped us get off the FATF grey list,” Asif said while talking to The Dependent.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) last month said that the state will take firm action against American drone strikes, after one of the drones last month morphed into an individual who had morphed into Afghan refugees