(Image source from: www.hindustantimes.com)

Following President Trump’s approach of building peace between the two nations of India and Pakistan, things seem to have taken a turn for the worse. The troops of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) still remain as a constant threat for India.

The US has accused Pakistan of not doing the needful and allowing some of the candidates associated with the terrorist groups to even fight in the 2018 elections that happened in the country.

The US State Department's 'Country Reports on Terrorism 2018' which was published on November 01st, 2019 further highlighted stating that the Pakistani government has also failed with the implementation of the Financial Action Task Force Action Plan which targets the constant money laundering and help counter terrorism.

They fail to disintegrate the terror group of LeT and several of its affiliates stating that they are still making use of the resources and are also raising funds on the side.

According to the report, it stated saying, “Regionally focused terrorist groups also remained a threat in 2018. For example, Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba – which was responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks – and Jaish-e-Mohammad maintained the capability and intent to attack Indian and Afghan targets. In February (2018), operatives reportedly affiliated with JeM attacked an Indian army camp at Sunjuwan, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, killing seven.”

The troops of LeT and JeM were solely responsible for some of the terror attacks in India, the predominant ones include the one in Parliament which led to the casualty of a number of innocent people and security personnel.

The US State Department report further accused Pakistan government of failing in limiting the LeT as well as the JeM from raising funds for the recruiting and training of the terrorists in Pakistan itself. In addition to that, the one market that stood out to be a problem was the fact that the allowed candidates involved in this were also affiliated with the terrorist groups which further let them contest elections as well which happened in July last year.

Following the general elections of 2018 in Pakistan, Imran Khan again resumed with his work back in the country.

Charging Pakistan with further accusations, the report clarified stating, “Although the Pakistani government voiced support for political reconciliation between the Afghan government and the Afghan Taliban, it did not restrict the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network (HQN) from operating in Pakistan-based safe havens and threatening the US and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.”

FATP further places Pakistan in the grey list just this June for its consistent lack of inputs in the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes. They are finding better ways to fight over the Pakistan’s constant failure that they have been enduring the UN Security Council ISL (Da'esh) and al-Qa'ida sanctions regime.

The report further clarified saying, “The FATF noted that UN-listed entities, including the LeT and its affiliates, were not effectively prohibited from raising funds in Pakistan, or being denied financial services.”

The US report also highlights some of the 2015 National Action Plan of Pakistan to further combat terrorism further pointed out the steps that they are going to take including the efforts to prevent as well as counterfeit the bouts of terrorist financing.

The constant string of money laundering has been an issue that the country has imposed from time to time, thus further causing a riot altogether. The US State Department further clarified saying, “These unlicensed money transfer systems persisted throughout the country and were open to abuse by terrorist financiers operating in the cross-border area.”

By Somapika Dutta