Dawn Editorial 13 October 2020
More progress needed
IT has been over two years since Pakistan was placed on the FATF grey list. During this period, Islamabad has amended numerous laws and taken several actions to remove the weaknesses in its AML/CFT regime to address FATF concerns over money laundering and terror financing. But these measures have not impressed the global body.
Since the exact details of the FATF’s demands remain shrouded in unnecessary secrecy, it is hard to weigh what the government chooses to tell the people against what the FATF has divulged so far. Hence, it’s difficult to evaluate the decision of the Asia Pacific Group, the FATF’s regional affiliate, to retain Pakistan in the ‘enhanced follow-up’ list.
The APG has acknowledged that the country has made “some progress” in addressing the deficiencies in its framework to fight money laundering and terror financing. Its latest report, for example, concedes that Islamabad has made robust progress on 27 action points, including legislation in 15 areas, recommended by the FATF, and that measures had been taken to reduce vulnerability of national savings, Pakistan Post and real estate dealers to money laundering and terror financing. Yet it doesn’t find major changes in technical compliance, noting that the improvement is not “sufficient”. Thus, the progress on FATF recommendations in large part remains unchanged from a year ago.
It is unclear whether the report will have any impact on the FATF’s decision to remove from or retain Pakistan on the grey list in its meeting starting Oct 21. Many are hopeful that Pakistan will be moved out of the list as the latest review is based on the country’s performance until February this year. Islamabad has since made substantial progress on the recommendations, even though issues related to enforcement remain.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi expects the country to be taken out of the grey list “soon”. How soon? He didn’t specify. He himself appears unaware of the outcome of the plenary. Pakistan needs the support of a minimum of 12 member countries of the 39-member FATF to exit the grey list. Chances are we may not be able to secure the required support in the forthcoming FATF meeting but will get more time to work on our AML/CFT regime.
Nevertheless, it is time for the world to appreciate Pakistan’s efforts and the willingness of the country’s leadership to do more to comply with the FATF’s mandate so that Pakistan can be removed from the grey list.
At the same time, Islamabad must be more transparent and step up its efforts to create a stronger legal framework, which is at par with global AML/CFT standards and FATF requirements. By ensuring transparency, it will be able to effectively quash concerns that some of the recent changes in the laws are meant more to hunt the opposition leadership rather than meet the FATF’s demands.
Second wave?
COVID-19 cases are rising steadily in the country, with the positivity ratio crossing 2pc and daily deaths once again in double digits. Planning Minister and head of the NCOC Asad Umar has said that the rate of those testing positive for the coronavirus has increased after being less than 2pc for six weeks.
As a result, the government is rolling out smart lockdowns in areas where transmission rates are high. In Punjab, the authorities fear a second wave is imminent as daily cases surged to a 30-day high and five critical patients succumbed to the virus overnight. In Sindh, too, daily cases are climbing, with some days seeing more than 400 confirmed cases in the province.
While the government statistics suggest two out of every 100 patients tested are positive, testing is still abysmally low. In the past week, daily tests have been under 30,000 — a sorry figure considering the sheer size of our population. According to numbers compiled by some international Covid-19 trackers, Pakistan’s daily testing at 0.14 per thousand is among the lowest in the world. This means that the confirmed cases being recorded by labs and collated by the government are just a fraction of the true number. Given the high transmission rate of the virus, if the spread is not controlled now, hospitalisations and deaths can once again jump and overwhelm the healthcare system.
While these grim figures are very much a reality, if one were to go into commercial or public spaces in the country, it would appear as if Covid-19 has been defeated. SOPs are being openly flouted, and distancing and face coverings are a rarity — a casual attitude which is sadly seen in members of the government as well as opposition politicians.
The prime minister recently spoke at an event where scores of attendees sat in a packed auditorium, many without masks. The opposition parties, too, are going ahead with their protest under the PDM banner, for which they are urging thousands of political workers to gather. These public figures and political leaders should be more responsible, and use their respective platforms to caution people about the dangers of contracting the virus.
The government must take the lead, and refocus its energy on Covid-19 prevention as it did during the peak — a genuine need for vigilance is why the government should dissuade the opposition from protesting, which is a democratic right. Failure to act by both sides will be a catastrophic mistake.
Preserving wildlife
IN an effort to redress biodiversity loss, the climate change ministry recently announced that it would create Pakistan’s first ‘National Red Data Book on Mammals’. Based on field surveys that will be led by a team of experts, the book aims to be a rich source of information for policymakers and researchers, identifying the multilayered threats to wildlife species and documenting the population of mammals in the country. From intrusions into their natural habitats, to the destruction of their food supplies, the rapid urbanisation, industrialisation and deforestation of the past few decades have resulted in major disturbances in the country’s diverse ecosystems. Pakistan is believed to have the second highest rate of deforestation in Asia. And with an annual fertility rate of 3.6 children per couple, the country’s growing population leads to an unprecedented strain for space and resources. For instance, the increase in domestic livestock alone is responsible for large acres of land being lost to grazing. Then there is the other human-made problem of pollution, and particularly plastic pollution that clogs landfills and water bodies, posing an existential threat to various land, marine and bird species.
The present century’s rapidly changing weather patterns only add to the threat to native wildlife species, which is especially worrying given that Pakistan is one of the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. (However, in some instances, extreme weather has proven to be a blessing for certain wildlife species, and there was a noted increase in the Indus dolphin’s population after the disastrous floods of 2010-11.) Last year, the International Union for Conservation of Nature warned that thousands of species were at risk of ‘vanishing’ due to climate change, as it updated its Red List of Threatened Species to include 1,840 new animal and plant life. As we try to find ‘lessons’ amidst the tragedy of the novel coronavirus pandemic, our extractive relationship with nature and other forms of life should not be overlooked.
