A set back to Pakistan!

Finally, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) was successful in putting Pakistan on notice giving it three months time to stop the misuse of its financial network for support of terrorism in the region. In its recent plenary meeting, the FATF last week decided to give Pakistan time till June when a final decision is expected after compelete scrutiny whether Pakistan's State Bank and other financial institutions had stopped funneling funds to terrorists.
A few weeks ago, a Pakistani bank in the US was told to cease operations after the intelligence agencies noticed that it was used for funding terrorist outfits through various NGOs which were actually their over-ground sponsors. In the case of the FATF notice, what is important is that Pakistan had been given such a notice three years ago as well. At that time, it had managed to wriggle out of a sticky situation by pretending to have acted against the terrorist organisations. The fact that the Hafiz Saeed terrorist network was still very much active, as was the Taliban and the Haqaani networks in Afghanistan, underlined the futility of withdrawing Pakistan from the FATF grey list.
However, what seems to be different this time is that President Donald Trump has minced no words in warning Pakistan that the American dollars will cease flowing unless it mends its ways. Without doubt, the FATF notice to Pakistan has come at the prodding of the US. Contrary to expectations, China and Russia, the other key members could not stand out openly in favour of Pakistan. What is significant is that China did not oppose the notice to Pakistan, maintaining a neutral stance while Russia supported the notice.
Failure of Pakistan to change its conduct can make its borrowing from multilateral financial bodies such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank further costlier. Even Pakistan's private sector will face heat as the nation's credit ratings will take a hit and lenders will be reluctant to advance money easily.
On its part, India should not bank much on the FATF notice — remember Pakistan is so deeply enmeshed in playing the terrorist game that in some way it will not abandon it whatever stratagems it might employ to hoodwink the Americans. It needs the American money, but it believes its strategic interests are crucially dependent on controlling the terrorist outfits for pushing its anti-India agenda. The continued violence in Kashmir is proof that far from letting up on the terror tap, Pakistan continues to export jihadis to the Valley. The fact is that India has to fend for itself in Kashmir and elsewhere wherever it faces terrorist menace.
Hopefully, a new strand in the bilateral relations will be the proposed visit to New Delhi later next month when Pakistan's commerce minister Pervaiz Malik is set to participate in the informal WTO ministerial meeting. Contacts established at this level between ministers of the two countries can hopefully help break the ice. It is notable that the national security advisers of the two countries have met on a couple of occasions in a neutral venue. It is in mutual interest that India and Pakistan start pulling back from the brink. Neither country can stand to gain from the continued war-like situation.