LAHORE: To anyone keeping up with the developments in Pakistan and the FATF case, it is not hard to decipher what went wrong and where. Although since a correlation between Pakistan’s action and the FATF decision to place the country in the grey list already exists, it is still quite a task to figure out the cause. That is, was Pakistan waiting to get placed in the grey list so that it can lift a ban on a proscribed outfit? Or, is it that Pakistan’s move was much expected that resulted in nearly failed negotiations between the FATF panel and the country. Either way, this has not put out a positive image for the country. The Indian media has made most out of the timing of the two events.
Unfortunately, this time around Pakistan cannot really blame the foreign lobbying forces for its failure, since its own choice of timing has done what would have been expected from an unfriendly neighbour.
Zobia Aleem Sheikh
Published in The Express Tribune, July 2nd, 2018.
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Original news : https://tribune.com.pk/story/1747591/6-wrong-timing/