India has planned to mount a massive diplomatic campaign to expose Pakistan’s “soft corner” for terrorists, at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the United Nations (UN). With the “fresh set of evidence” available with India, several senior diplomats will impress upon the FATF and the UN that Pakistan continues to sponsor, harbour and promote terrorism and terror outfits operating from its soil. That Pakistan’s state actors continue to be involved in this heinous crime will be brought to the notice of both the key international organisations, sources in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) told The Daily Guardian.
According to sources, with the help of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, Indian diplomats have prepared a detailed report on how a case against six “terrorists” of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) collapsed recently in a Pakistan court because of an “improper investigation”. The Lahore high court had set aside a counterterrorism court’s conviction of these six aides of Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed on the ground that the prosecution failed to prove the charge of terror financing against them. “This happened just weeks after the FATF asked Pakistan to do more to investigate and prosecute leaders and commanders of UN-designated terror groups involved in terror financing,” an official told this newspaper. Pakistan continues to be on the FATF grey list for its failure to do anything satisfactory on curbing terror financing, and India wants it to be moved to the black list.
“India has substantive accounts to establish how Pakistan deliberately weakened the case by carrying out an improper investigation against these six aides of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed,” a diplomat said. “This will be shared with both the FATF and the UN,” he added.
According to top diplomatic sources, India has also asked Bangladesh to share with it the proof of how the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI is involved in sponsoring terrorism in Dhaka as has been recently revealed by a Bangladeshi minister, Hasan Ul-Inu. Hasan was recently on record, saying that “the ISI is trying to destabilize” his country “by strengthening the roots of Islamic terrorism in Dhaka”.
Sources said that the Indian High Commission in Dhaka has established contacts with some Bangladeshi diplomats, seeking documentary evidence that could establish the minister’s claims about the ISI. “Once available, this evidence will also be shared with the FATF and also with the United Nations, which will help India’s campaign to get Pakistan blacklisted by the terror financing watchdog,” an official said. India has already expressed deep anguish ov er Pakistan’s failure to bring the perpetrators of 26/11 terror attacks to justice. “India has not only given a Pakistani diplomat a note verbale asking his country to expedite trial in the Mumbai attack cases, but also shared with Islamabad the relevant evidence that nails Pakistan’s lies that it is doing enough to curb terrorism,” an official said. According to sources, the same evidence will be submitted to the FATF headquarters in Paris and also to the UN once again.
