Pakistan announces action plan to get off FATF grey list within a year, says Miftah Ismail

Dr. Miftah Ismail. (REUTERS)
Updated 13 April 2018
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Pakistan announces action plan to get off FATF grey list within a year, says Miftah Ismail

  • He says the steps they take will address the concerns of the international community
  • Rules out seeking financial assistance from IMF to bridge the current-account deficit

KARACHI: In an attempt to allay the concerns of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Pakistan has stated that it will have an action plan ready by June this year. The country hopes that as a result it will be off the organization’s grey list within a year.
In an exclusive interview with Arab News, Dr. Miftah Ismail, the adviser to the prime minister on finance, said that the plan would be formulated and executed within three months to allay the concerns of the international community.
“Yesterday, I talked to the representative of FATF and assured him that we would make an action plan,” he said. “By implementing that action plan, Pakistan will be off the grey list within a year.”
The FATF was established in July 1989 by a Group of Seven summit in Paris. Its objectives are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
Pakistan is due to be added to the FATF grey list in June, despite the country’s attempts to reassure the international community.
“During our meetings with the representatives of FATF, Pakistan presented its point of view, but western countries, particularly the United States, were not ready to listen to us,” said Ismail.
A recently announced tax-amnesty scheme had added to FATF concerns about Pakistan, but Ismail said this was being addressed.
“They simply wanted us to give them assurance in writing that we were not violating anti-money laundering laws,” he said. “We have given them assurance in writing that the amnesty scheme is not for criminal offenses, but for tax evasion.”
Ismail said that the addition of Pakistan to the grey list of would only increase the accounting requirements.
The country is facing a burgeoning current-account deficit that has risen to $10.4 billion, mainly due to increased imports and a fall in exports.
However, he said the government saw no need to seek financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund, given the recent devaluation of the rupee and signs that exports were starting to rise again.
Ismail ruled out a further devaluation of currency, after the already-completed 10 percent depreciation, saying the market has positively responded to the government’s move.
“People were expecting a 10 percent devaluation of the Pak rupee, which was achieved without increasing the rate of inflation in the country,” he said.
“We feel that there is no need for further devaluation.
“We have twice devalued our currency and our exports increased by 24 percent in March. We think that we are moving on the right path to reduce the current-account deficit. Obviously, remittances are also increasing.”

In addition, he ruled out the possibility of floating bonds/Sukuk on the international market during the current fiscal year.

“If we are elected and form the next government, we will go to the international market in November or December to raise funds,” he said, without giving any further details.
However, Ismail did not rule out the possibility of asking friendly countries for deficit financing, though he added that no such move was under discussion at present.
“We can go to any country,” he said. “For example, if we want to go to Saudi Arabia we will ask them for oil-export credit but no present talks are going on about this.”
Regarding the shifts in economic policy since the departure of former finance minister Ishaq Dar in November 2017, he said the only change was the devaluation of the currency.
“I did what I deemed best in the interests of Pakistan,” he added.
Ismail also addressed the frequent power outages in the port city of Karachi, despite the government’s claim of adding nearly 10,000 megawatts of electricity to the national grid.
“The load shedding in Karachi is the result of a tussle between the Sui Southern Gas Company and K-Electric,” he said.
He added that the government was “trying to resolve the issue as soon as possible.”
Looking ahead to the budget that will be presented on April 27, Ismail confirmed that the duty imposed to discourage imports of finished goods will remain, though it would be abolished for intermediate goods.
“This budget will be appreciated by all political parties,” he said. “The next government can make small changes to it, but 90 percent of the budget will be the one we have at present.”


Pakistan locks down capital ahead of a planned rally by Imran Khan supporters

Updated 56 min 49 sec ago
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Pakistan locks down capital ahead of a planned rally by Imran Khan supporters

  • Interior Ministry is considering a suspension of mobile phone services in parts of Pakistan in the coming days
  • Pakistan has banned gatherings of five or more people in Islamabad for two months to deter Khan’s supporters

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is sealing off its capital, Islamabad, ahead of a planned rally by supporters of imprisoned former premier Imran Khan.
It’s the second time in as many months that authorities have imposed such measures to thwart tens of thousands of people from gathering in the city to demand Khan’s release.
The latest lockdown coincides with the visit of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who arrives in Islamabad on Monday.
Local media reported that the Interior Ministry is considering a suspension of mobile phone services in parts of Pakistan in the coming days. On Friday, the National Highways and Motorway Police announced that key routes would close for maintenance.
It advised people to avoid unnecessary travel and said the decision was taken following intelligence reports that “angry protesters” are planning to create a law and order situation and damage public and private property on Sunday, the day of the planned rally.
“There are reports that protesters are coming with sticks and slingshots,” the statement added.
Multicolored shipping containers, a familiar sight to people living and working in Islamabad, reappeared on key roads Saturday to throttle traffic.
Pakistan has already banned gatherings of five or more people in Islamabad for two months to deter Khan’s supporters and activists from his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI.
Khan has been in prison for more than a year in connection and has over 150 criminal cases against him. But he remains popular and the PTI says the cases are politically motivated.
A three-day shutdown was imposed in Islamabad for a security summit last month.


Indian man awakes on funeral pyre

Updated 23 November 2024
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Indian man awakes on funeral pyre

  • Doctors sent Rohitash Kumar, 25, to mortuary instead of conducting postmortem after he fell ill
  • Kumar was rushed to hospital on Friday for treatment but was confirmed dead later

JAIPUR: An Indian man awoke on a funeral pyre moments before it was to be set on fire after a doctor skipped a postmortem, medical officials said Saturday.
Rohitash Kumar, 25, who had speaking and hearing difficulties, had fallen sick and was taken to a hospital in Jhunjhunu in the western state of Rajasthan on Thursday.
Indian media reported he had had an epileptic seizure, and a doctor declared him dead on arrival at the hospital.
But instead of the required postmortem to ascertain the cause of death, doctors sent him to the mortuary, and then to be burned according to Hindu rites.
D. Singh, chief medical officer of the hospital, told AFP that a doctor had “prepared the postmortem report without actually doing the postmortem, and the body was then sent for cremation.”
Singh said that “shortly before the pyre was to be lit, Rohitash’s body started movements,” adding that “he was alive and was breathing.”
Kumar was rushed to hospital for a second time, but was confirmed dead on Friday during treatment.
Authorities have suspended the services of three doctors and the police have launched an investigation.


NATO chief discusses ‘global security’ with Trump

Updated 23 November 2024
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NATO chief discusses ‘global security’ with Trump

  • NATO allies say keeping Kyiv in the fight against Moscow is key to both European and American security

Brussels: NATO chief Mark Rutte held talks with US President-elect Donald Trump in Florida on the “global security issues facing the alliance,” a spokeswoman said Saturday.
The meeting took place on Friday in Palm Beach, NATO’s Farah Dakhlallah said in a statement.
In his first term Trump aggressively pushed Europe to step up defense spending and questioned the fairness of the NATO transatlantic alliance.
The former Dutch prime minister had said he wanted to meet Trump two days after Trump was elected on November 5, and discuss the threat of increasingly warming ties between North Korea and Russia.
Trump’s thumping victory to return to the US presidency has set nerves jangling in Europe that he could pull the plug on vital Washington military aid for Ukraine.
NATO allies say keeping Kyiv in the fight against Moscow is key to both European and American security.
“What we see more and more is that North Korea, Iran, China and of course Russia are working together, working together against Ukraine,” Rutte said recently at a European leaders’ meeting in Budapest.
“At the same time, Russia has to pay for this, and one of the things they are doing is delivering technology to North Korea,” which he warned was threatening to the “mainland of the US (and) continental Europe.”
“I look forward to sitting down with Donald Trump to discuss how we can face these threats collectively,” Rutte said.


Indian man awakes on funeral pyre

Updated 23 November 2024
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Indian man awakes on funeral pyre

JAIPUR, India: An Indian man awoke on a funeral pyre moments before it was to be set on fire after a doctor skipped a postmortem, medical officials said Saturday.
Rohitash Kumar, 25, who had speaking and hearing difficulties, had fallen sick and was taken to a hospital in Jhunjhunu in the western state of Rajasthan on Thursday.
Indian media reported he had had an epileptic seizure, and a doctor declared him dead on arrival at the hospital.
But instead of the required postmortem to ascertain the cause of death, doctors sent him to the mortuary, and then to be burned according to Hindu rites.
D. Singh, chief medical officer of the hospital, told AFP that a doctor had “prepared the postmortem report without actually doing the postmortem, and the body was then sent for cremation.”
Singh said that “shortly before the pyre was to be lit, Rohitash’s body started movements,” adding that “he was alive and was breathing.”
Kumar was rushed to hospital for a second time, but was confirmed dead on Friday during treatment.
Authorities have suspended the services of three doctors and the police have launched an investigation.


Fighting between armed sectarian groups in restive northwestern Pakistan kills at least 33 people

Updated 23 November 2024
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Fighting between armed sectarian groups in restive northwestern Pakistan kills at least 33 people

  • Senior police officer said Saturday armed men torched shops, houses and government property overnight
  • Although the two groups generally live together peacefully, tensions remain, especially in Kurram

PESHAWAR: Fighting between armed Sunni and Shiite groups in northwestern Pakistan killed at least 33 people and injured 25 others, a senior police officer from the region said Saturday.
The overnight violence was the latest to rock Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and comes days after a deadly gun ambush killed 42 people.
Shiite Muslims make up about 15 percent of the 240 million people in Sunni-majority Pakistan, which has a history of sectarian animosity between the communities.
Although the two groups generally live together peacefully, tensions remain, especially in Kurram.
The senior police officer said armed men in Bagan and Bacha Kot torched shops, houses and government property.
Intense gunfire was ongoing between the Alizai and Bagan tribes in the Lower Kurram area.
“Educational institutions in Kurram are closed due to the severe tension. Both sides are targeting each other with heavy and automatic weapons,” said the officer, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Videos shared with The Associated Press showed a market engulfed by fire and orange flames piercing the night sky. Gunfire can also be heard.
The location of Thursday’s attack was also targeted by armed men, who marched on the area.
Survivors of the gun ambush said assailants emerged from a vehicle and sprayed buses and cars with bullets. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack and police have not identified a motive.
Dozens of people from the district’s Sunni and Shiite communities have been killed since July, when a land dispute erupted in Kurram that later turned into general sectarian violence.