Lahore: Crediting his government for winning the approval of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), former federal minister Hammad Azhar claimed that the previous government led by PTI had completed all 34 action items of the watchdog.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore soon after the media briefing by Hina Rabbani Khar, Minister of State for External Affairs, to discuss the latest FATF decision, Hammad Azhar said that last year Pakistan had implemented 32 items out of the 34-point FATF. managed to complete. The action plan and a report on the remaining two were submitted in April.
It is noteworthy that the government led by former PM Imran Khan was toppled through a no-confidence motion on 11 April.
,[I am happy] We have completed all 34 items of the FATF Action Plan.” He added that a “difficult” phase is now over.
Azhar said Pakistan has done the ‘best job’.
“The PTI government passed dozens of laws related to FATF. Financial systems were upgraded, officials trained,” he said.
India tries to use FATF’s platform for political purposes
Hammad Azhar said India’s role, whenever the FATF reviews Pakistan’s progress in combating terrorism and curbing money laundering, has historically been negative and this is something that the previous PTI government has highlighted several times. has done.
“It was clear that India was trying to use this platform for political purposes,” Azhar said.
“When it came to power, there was a lot of fear of being blacklisted by Pakistan,” he said.
He said that the PTI government constituted a FATF Coordination Committee which included all the concerned state institutions. “The officers of the committee worked day and night,” he said.
The minister said remittances have increased in the last three-and-a-half years with the commencement of work on reforms.
“The real heroes are the officers who are sitting in different departments,” Azhar said, adding that they performed “consistently” for three-and-a-half years.
According to the minister, PTI exposed the Indian team during this period.
Azhar said, “It is a technical forum, not a political platform. An attempt was made to make it political.”
“We got a lot of benami accounts. This is a victory for the whole of Pakistan,” he said.