KARACHI: Pakistan is optimistic that its amendments to anti-money laundering laws will not only contain the illegal practice, but also move to official channels remittance inflows that have been made through hundi and hawala operators.
The amendments to anti-money laundering regulation are in accordance with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations.
“Under FATF action plan, the FIA (Federal Investigation Agency) is effectively taking action against hawala and hundi operators,” said Mansoor Hassan Siddiqui, director general of the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU).
“Many people are under investigation and in many cases administrative and monetary punishments have been awarded,” he told Arab News on Monday.
The South Asian country has amended its anti-money laundering and foreign exchange laws to ensure strict law enforcement. The Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) was passed in 1947, while the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) in 2010. Under their amended versions, offenders will face 10 years in prison and Rs5 million in fines.
The FATF gave Pakistan 27 action items. The country is largely compliant in five and non-compliant in another five. It is partially complaint in 17.
Sidiqqui said that Pakistan had submitted its second round of progress report to the FATF on Jan. 8, 2020. The report will be discussed by the task force’s member countries in Beijing on Jan. 21-22.
“One of the FATF action items is to take action against illegal operators,” he said, adding that in national risk assessments hawala and hundi are identified as “high risk” modes of financing terrorism and money laundering in Pakistan.
FATF has given Pakistan time until February 2020 to implement the action plan or face blacklisting. The country is currently on the FATF’s gray list. According to Siddiqui, Pakistani authorities are optimistic that they had made significant progress in compliance.
Stakeholders say that around 30,000 illegal money changers and hundi or hawala operators are active in the country, discouraging money transfers through more expensive official channels.
“The government’s actions have restricted the movement of currency in the country, as now if someone is carrying $10,000, he will have to seek SBP (State Bank of Pakistan) permission. But still, around 30,000 illegal operators are active,” Malik Bostan, president of the Forex Association of Pakistan, told Arab News.
Reza Baqir, the central bank governor, on Friday also observed that the use of formal channels by overseas Pakistanis for sending money is not growing as much as the use of informal channels. “The reasons for this may be the comparatively higher cost of sending money and the questions asked from the senders,” the SBP governor said while speaking at the Pakistan Banking Awards ceremony in Karachi.
In 2019, a total of 625,203 Pakistanis moved out of the country to find jobs, over half of them in Saudi Arabia. This number was followed closely by the UAE and other Gulf countries. In stark contrast, the number of Pakistanis who found jobs abroad in 2018 was 382,439, according to Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment data.
According to the Ministry of Finance, growth in foreign remittance, which soared to $11.4 billion in July-December, is likely to continue for the rest of the fiscal year. The government’s foreign remittance target for FY2020 is $24 billion, and “it is likely to be achieved,” the ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Pakistan eyes more remittances through FATF compliance, curbing hawala
https://arab.news/g3ew4
Pakistan eyes more remittances through FATF compliance, curbing hawala
- Amendments to anti-money laundering laws are in accordance with FATF recommendations
- Hawala and hundi are identified as ‘high risk’ modes of financing terrorism in Pakistan
Pakistan’s Punjab launches 10-year smog plan amid record air pollution
- Government has distributed super seeders to farmers to support precision seeding
- 800 brick kilns demolished instead of being sealed which briefly happens each year
ISLAMABAD: Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb on Friday announced the provincial government had launched a 10-year smog mitigation plan, as record-high air pollution levels have triggered hundreds of hospitalizations, school closures and stay-at-home orders in several districts of the Pakistan’s most populous province.
On Friday, the provincial capital of Lahore, home to 13 million people, had the worst air quality of any city in the world, according to live readings by IQAir, a Swiss air quality monitoring company.
Toxic smog has enveloped Lahore and at least 17 other districts in Punjab since last month, where health officials have been forced to close down schools and government offices, among other measures.
“For the first time, Punjab has developed a 10-year climate change policy,” Aurangzeb said while addressing a press conference in Lahore, saying Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif was “personally” monitoring the plan’s implementation.
Pakistan, like neighboring India, battles pollution each year as temperatures fall and cold air traps construction dust, vehicle emissions and smoke as farmers illegally burn paddy stubble to clear fields. Prohibited brick-kilns and smoke-emitting vehicles also contribute to the problem.
Speaking about measures taken to combat air pollution, the minister said the Punjab government had distributed super seeders to farmers, bearing 60 percent of their cost while farmers paid the remaining 40 percent. The no-till planters are designed for precision seeding which helps farmers contribute to cleaner air, improved soil health, and a more sustainable agricultural ecosystem.
“We have an aim of distributing 5,000 super seeders in Punjab by July next year,” the minister said. “We have now engaged more companies to increase production of super seeders.”
Aurangzeb also said authorities had demolished 800 brick kilns.
“We did not seal them this time because they would begin operating again from January if they were only sealed,” she added.
The minister said environmental control systems to detect smoke had been set up through loans provided by the Punjab government.
“More than 90 small and medium sized industries have installed the system using this loan,” she said, encouraging people to help with the afforestation of Lahore.
“Forest cover of Lahore should be 36 percent on international standard, it is 3 percent now,” Aurangzeb said. “Green master plan of Lahore has been made. Implementation has started. Forest cover is planned to be increased, which is a part of this plan.”
Earlier this week, the government of Punjab closed all high schools in the province until Nov. 17 due to persisting smog.
Primary schools and government offices had already been closed until Nov. 17 in many districts of Punjab earlier this month, with school closures likely to affect the education of more than 20 million students, according to associations representing private and government schools.
Authorities in 18 districts of Punjab also closed all public parks, zoos and museums, historical places, and playgrounds for ten days last week.
On Friday, a court in Lahore ordered the government to shut all markets after 8pm. Authorities have already banned barbecuing food without filters and ordered wedding halls to close by 10pm.
On Monday, the UN children’s agency said the health of 11 million children in Punjab province was in danger because of air pollution.
Daesh group gunmen kill politician in Pakistan
- Daesh group Khorasan branch said its “soldiers shot an official of the apostate political party”
- Daesh militants have killed at least 39 people in targeted attacks, bomb explosions this year, police say
PESHAWAR: Gunmen from the regional branch of the Daesh group have killed a politician affiliated with a religious political party in northwest Pakistan, police and the militants said Friday.
“Jamaat-e-Islami Bajaur leader Sufi Hameed was leaving the mosque after offering prayers after sunset (Thursday) when two masked men on a motorcycle opened fire on him,” senior police official Waqar Rafiq told AFP.
The official said the attackers escaped after shooting the politician in Bajaur district, near the border with Afghanistan where militants remain active.
The Daesh group Khorasan branch (IS-K) said its “soldiers shot an official of the apostate political party,” in a message on Telegram.
The local chapter of the group accuses religious political parties of going against strict religious preachings and supporting the country’s government and the military.
IS-K has recently carried out several attacks against political parties, including a suicide bomb blast at a rally in Bajaur last year which killed at least 54 people including 23 children.
“In this year alone, they have killed at least 39 people in targeted attacks and bomb explosions” in Bajaur, a senior local security official told AFP on the condition of anonymity.
In both Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Bajuar is located, and Balochistan province in the southwest, armed militants regularly target security forces and state representatives.
Militants operating in Pakistan include Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the country’s homegrown Taliban group.
Pakistan has seen a sharp rise in militant attacks in regions bordering Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in the country in 2021.
US urges sports diplomacy between Pakistan, India following ICC Champions Trophy row
- State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel highlights the role of sports in “connecting people”
- India has refused to travel to Pakistan for ICC Champions Trophy slated to be held from Feb-March next year
ISLAMABAD: US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel on Friday encouraged sports diplomacy between Pakistan and India amid a row over New Delhi’s refusal to send its cricket team to neighboring Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy.
The ICC informed Pakistan last week India had declined to play any games in Pakistan during the Champions Trophy, which is scheduled to be held from Feb. 19 - March 9. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has sought clarification from the ICC on the refusal.
“Bilateral relationships are certainly not something for us to get in the middle of but sports is certainly a potent and connecting force,” Patel said during a weekly press briefing. “You have seen the secretary and this department really prioritize the role that sports diplomacy has in connecting people.”
Patel added that bilateral relations between Pakistan and India ought to be discussed between the countries on their own through sports orother means.
“At the end of the day, sports really connects so many people and is a great way for the human-to-human and people-to-people ties this administration has really prioritized,” he said.
India has not toured Pakistan since 2008 because of soured political relations between the neighbors, who play each other only in global multi-team tournaments. Pakistan hosted the Asia Cup last year but the winners India played all their matches in Sri Lanka under a “hybrid model.”
The PCB has ruled out a similar arrangement for the 2025 Champions Trophy despite the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) maintaining its stance of not sending a team to Pakistan, citing government advice.
Pakistan unveils first National Climate Finance Strategy on COP29 sidelines
- Strategy aimed at mobilizing financial resources and investments for climate mitigation and adaptation
- Pakistan is ranked 5th most vulnerable country to climate change, according to Global Climate Risk Index
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has unveiled its first-ever National Climate Finance Strategy (NCFS), aimed at mobilizing financial resources for climate mitigation and adaptation, Radio Pakistan reported on Friday.
The strategy was launched by Federal Minister for Finance, Muhammad Aurangzeb, and the Prime Minister’s Coordinator on Climate Change, Romina Khurshid Alam, at the Pakistan Pavilion in Baku on the sidelines of the two-week UN-led global climate conference (COP29).
“[Strategy] outlines a comprehensive framework to scale up climate-related investments, attract international funding, and strengthen domestic financial systems,” Radio Pakistan reported.
“The strategy provides a roadmap for Pakistan to systematically access climate finance from a variety of domestic and international sources, reinforcing the country’s commitment to the Paris Agreement and its climate resilience goals.”
Speaking on the occasion, Aurangzeb said the strategy would enable Pakistan to leverage international, domestic, and private finance to support climate resilience efforts.
The strategy prioritizes sectoral resilience and the development of climate-smart policies across key sectors such as agriculture, infrastructure, and urban planning, the finance minister said, adding that NCFS identified key financial instruments and channels for climate action, aiming to close the estimated $348 billion climate finance gap facing the country by 2030.
The NCFS also incorporates a new National Climate Finance Portal that will track climate finance inflows and outflows, ensuring transparency and accountability.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who spoke at a number of events at COP29 earlier this week, used the forum to highlight the need to restore confidence in the pledging process and increase climate finance for vulnerable, developing countries.
The main task for nearly 200 countries at the COP29 summit from Nov. 11-22 is to broker a deal that ensures up to trillions of dollars in financing for climate projects worldwide.
Pakistan is ranked the 5th most vulnerable country to climate change, according to the Global Climate Risk Index. In 2022, devastating floods killed over 1,700 people and affected over 33 million, with economic losses exceeding $30 billion. International donors pledged over $9 billion last January to aid Pakistan’s flood recovery but officials say little of the promised funds have been received so far.
Speaking on the sidelines of the World Leaders’ Climate Action Summit on Tuesday, Sharif said developing countries would need an estimated $6.8 trillion by 2030 to implement less than half of their current nationally determined contributions (NDCs), or national action plans for reducing emissions and adapting to climate impacts defined by the Paris Agreement.
Most of the world’s climate-friendly spending so far has been skewed toward major economies such as China and the United States. Africa’s 54 countries received just 2 percent of global renewable energy investments over the last two decades.
‘Rain prayers’ to be organized across Pakistan today as toxic smog chokes cities
- Toxic smog has enveloped the eastern city of Lahore and 17 other districts of Punjab province since last month
- Lahore, home to 13 million people, had the worst air quality in the world on Friday, according to live readings by IQAir
ISLAMABAD: On the appeal of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, special prayers for rainfall will be organized across Pakistan today, Friday, as record-high air pollution levels have triggered hundreds of hospitalizations, school closures and stay-at-home orders in several districts of the most populous Punjab province.
On Friday, Lahore, home to 13 million people, had the worst air quality of any city in the world, according to live readings by IQAir, a Swiss air quality monitoring company.
On Thursday, Sharif appealed to the nation to perform Istisqa prayers, a special Islamic ritual performed to seek rain, primarily during times of drought or severe water shortages.
“Salat Al-Istisqa for rain will be offered across the country today [Friday] on the appeal of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to the nation,” Radio Pakistan reported, saying Sharif had urged religious scholars and prayer leaders to play their role in organizing the special ritual.
Earlier this week, the government of Punjab closed all high schools in the province until Nov. 17 due to persisting smog.
Primary schools and government offices had already been closed until Nov. 17 in many districts of Punjab earlier this month, with school closures likely to affect the education of more than 20 million students, according to associations representing private and government schools.
Authorities in 18 districts of Punjab also closed all public parks, zoos and museums, historical places, and playgrounds for ten days last week.
On Friday, a court in Lahore ordered the government to shut all markets after 8pm. Authorities have already banned barbecuing food without filters and ordered wedding halls to close by 10pm.
On Monday, the UN children’s agency said the health of 11 million children in Punjab province was in danger because of air pollution.
