Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Pakistan to withdraw state support to terror groups?' that was published in Newsband

Pakistan to withdraw state support to terror groups?

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) monitors countries on action taken against terror-financing and money-laundering. FATF has decided to place Pakistan back on its watch list. This is owing to Pakistan’s failure to crack down on groups banned by the Security Council 1267 sanctions committee.

Both the LeT and JeM, which continue to praise and claim credit for terror attacks in India, have grown their bases in Pakistan. By doing this, successive Pakistani governments have jeopardised ties with India.

The International Cooperation Review Group had made recommendations to reach the consensus needed to list Pakistan. The U.S., U.K., France and Germany proposed the resolution against it. The initial support for Pakistan came from China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. This is cause for concern in New Delhi,

The hope is that such sanctions will persuade Pakistan to stop state support for these terror groups. Pakistan has three months to show its progress, and China is sure to turn-around and support Pakistan's new actions. Pakistan did not change before, and it might not change now also. China also needs Pakistan's full support to engage the USA through Taliban in Afghanistan, and terrorists to engage India in Kashmir. And, for GCC, Muslim brotherhood is more important than strategic relationship.

Pakistan has yet to take decisive actions against terrorists, according to U.S. Gen. Joseph Votel. Pakistan will continue to face a freeze in U.S. security assistance as it is yet to take “definitive action” against militant groups like the Taliban and the Haqqani network. The U.S. has stepped up pressure on Pakistan to do more in its fight against terrorism. The U.S. withdrew about $2 billion in security assistance to Pakistan, accusing Islamabad of harbouring terror groups.

The U.S. pressed its serious concerns about the country’s provision of sanctuary and support to militant and terrorist groups that target the U.S. personnel and interests. Although most security assistance for Pakistan is currently suspended, since 2002 Pakistan has been among the largest recipients of U.S. provided Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and International Military Education and Training (IMET).

The U.S. uses ground and air routes in Pakistan to deliver materiel to Afghanistan although they also have options to utilize routes through the other Central Asian nations. The pressure that the Trump administration has put on Pakistan has contributed to the recent positive response from Islamabad.