Pakistan paying through own pockets for war against terrorism, says Iqbal
February 19, 2018
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Monday stated that Pakistan is paying from its pockets to fight the war against terrorism.
The United States earlier this month put forward a motion to place Pakistan on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) watchlist. The FATF, an intergovernmental body based in Paris, sets global standards for fighting illicit finance.
Speaking to the media, the minister said that any negative impact on Pakistan's budget will also affect the war against terrorism.
He expressed his hopes that the international community will not take any measures that will impede the war against terrorism.
The interior minister, on Sunday, has said that the bid by some western countries to place Pakistan on a global terrorist-financing watchlist was a political act.
Speaking to the media in Lahore, Iqbal had said that the West wants to pressurise Pakistan to achieve certain objectives, because of which it is pushing to place the country on the FATF watchlist.
Iqbal had shared his concern that such pressure tactics would negatively impact Pakistan’s efforts in the war against terrorism.
Pakistan has been scrambling in recent months to avert being added to a list of countries deemed non-compliant with terrorist financing regulations by the FATF, a measure that officials fear could hurt its economy.
