Desperate to avoid blacklisting by FATF, Pakistan nabs Mumbai attack kingpin Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi
Faced with the possibility of being blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Pakistani authorities have arrested Mumbai attack kingpin and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.
Lakhvi has been accused of being involved in terror financing—a prime concern of the FATF, which has asked Pakistan to take concrete and verifiable action against terror kingpins. In case Islamabad fails to comply, it can be blacklisted, implying that its access to international funding would be severely restricted, further sliding the country in the direction of becoming a “failed state.”
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Lakhvi was arrested in a case of terrorism financing registered by the CTD Punjab in Police Station CTD Lahore. He is accused of running a dispensary using funds collected for terrorism financing. He and others also collected funds from this dispensary and used these funds for further terrorism financing. He also used these funds for personal expenses.
In addition to belonging to Proscribed Organisation LeT, he is also a UN Designated individual. His trial will be held before Anti- Terrorism Court Lahore. However, the Paris-based terror financing watchdog has placed the country in its ‘grey list’.
Lakhvi’s arrest precedes the February 21 plenary of FATF, which has given Pakistan time until then to meet all the 27 parameters, especially those that pertain to imposing sanctions on terrorist outfits.
The FATF president, Marcus Pleyer has previously said countries are “pushed to the black list” if they fail to meet all the parameters, and no country is allowed to stay in the grey list permanently.
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