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  • The FATF team - The visiting team comprises Ian Collins of the UK’s New Scotland Yard, James Prussing the US Department of the Treasury, Ashraf Abdulla of Financial Intelligence Unit of Maldives, Boby Wahyu Hernawan of the Indonesian Ministry of Finance, Gong Jingyan of People’s Bank of China, and Mustafa Necmeddin Oztop of Turkish Ministry of Justice.
    Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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    • In a recent conversation on India-Pakistan issues, I found a group of Pakistani opinion-makers challenging this conventional wisdom. They argued that India is approaching the relationship with Pakistan with a longer time horizon in mind. They pointed out that in Pakistan-India policy fora, they have noticed a shift in the body language of Indian interlocutors. It is far more confident, if not arrogant, and fixated on the country’s upward trajectory. There are regular references to the growing economic and military differential between India and Pakistan and to comparisons with Nepal and Bangladesh when Pakistan is referenced. The mindset doesn’t reflect an India that feels a need to compromise with Pakistan anymore.

      While I do not subscribe to this presentation of facts, I accept the bottom line about India’s focus on the growing power imbalance in the region. I have previously explained what the longer game may be premised on: if India can continue growing economically and diverting significant resources to defence while forcing Pakistan to remain wedded to a paradigm that prizes hard security over economic well-being, in a decade or two, the power differential will be so large that the only negotiation possible would be on the stronger party’s terms.
      Difficult equation
      Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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      • News coming out of Pakistan is Inspectors not impressed with work done on FATF list
        Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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        • NIA takes over Hizbul’s case from Assam Police

          GUWAHATI, Oct 10 - The National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Guwahati has formally taken over the case from Assam Police in connection with banned militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen’s attempt to expand its network in the State.

          Sources informed that the NIA has registered a case today and a team has been constituted to probe the case.
          The Central agency has been keeping a close eye on the developments along with Assam and Uttar Pradesh Police after hardcore terrorist of the outfit Qamar-uz-Zama was arrested by the anti-terrorism squad of Uttar Pradesh Police from Kanpur.

          Qamar-uz-Zama hails from Assam, and as per the investigating agency, he was entrusted with the responsibility to strengthen the outfit's network in the State. He had also undergone training in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan.

          Hojai Police, which took over the case subsequently, has so far arrested eight persons for their alleged links with the terror outfit.

          Qamar-uz-Zama, who was taken into custody by Assam Police recently, was sent back to Uttar Pradesh by a flight today. He will be produced before a court in Uttar Pradesh tomorrow.

          Sources said that Zama during questioning revealed that the outfit was attempting to bring more youths from the State into its fold.
          Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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          • Pakistan’s fortunes can’t be rescued by celebrity PM and recycled foreign minister

            Few friends or presumed enemies seem willing to trust Pakistan’s promises even under a new leader. Reluctance of ‘friends’ Saudi Arabia and China to pump in billions of dollars in a faltering economy forced Prime Minister Imran Khan to turn to the IMF for a bailout. Ironically, he had said at one time that he would “rather commit suicide than go round the world begging for money”.

            The offer of a ‘reset’ in relations by the United States is also not panning out. The US wants Pakistan to help with the peace process in Afghanistan and remains concerned about terrorism. Washington refuses to restore suspended economic and security assistance until it sees signs of change in Pakistan’s conduct.

            India, often painted as Pakistan’s ‘eternal enemy’, has refused to hold high-level talks unless Pakistan stops supporting Kashmiri militants and other terrorists. Pakistan, it seems, has a credibility problem with most countries that matter in its foreign policy. American and Indian concerns about Pakistan are quite old but now even China and Saudi Arabia are indicating wariness over unfulfilled promises.

            China is concerned that Pakistan is trying to revise the terms of the approximately $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). From the Chinese perspective, a nation must honour its contracts and the Pakistani penchant for revisiting international business deals with every change of government in Islamabad is unacceptable.

            Saudi Arabia is also unwilling to continue giving cash first and making requests later – something it has done as a friend of Pakistan in the past. Its current leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al-Saud, wants Pakistan to shed ambiguity and stand by the Kingdom against Iran, in addition to providing troops or other material support for the Saudi war effort in Yemen.

            The Saudis say they are willing to invest in Pakistan but, like the Chinese, would want security and a good return for their investments. Pakistan has a poor track record in cancelling projects and using engineered judicial verdicts and criminal cases to deprive foreign investors of promised returns.

            Independent Power Producers (IPPs) learnt the lesson on Pakistan’s unreliable investment environment in the 1990s. Over the years, several foreign investors have won hefty international arbitration awards against Pakistan because of allegedly unfair cancellation of contracts.

            Tethyan Copper Company Pvt Ltd, a joint venture between Chilean mining giant Antofagasta and Canada’s Barrick Gold Corporation, is claiming more than $11 billion in compensation in the Reko Diq project after proving to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) that Pakistan’s decision to cancel its mining contract in Balochistan was unlawful and unfair.

            To be fair to Khan, many of these problems are the result of policies that have persisted for decades. But Khan still supports the hyper-nationalist Pakistani narrative that has given rise to Pakistan’s lack of international credibility. It persists with myths about Pakistan’s external friendships and animosities that are at the heart of the country’s global isolation.

            The entrenched establishment that brought Khan to office had hoped that a new government, led by a fresh face, would be enough to convince the world that a new Pakistan had been born. In this view, renewed national pride and a celebrity prime minister was all that was needed to make other countries see Pakistan differently than they had in the past.

            But a new prime minister and a recycled foreign minister do not change harsh realities. Pakistan does not honour United Nations’ terrorist designations nor does it abide by commercial contracts and agreements considered sacrosanct by the rest of the world. Such attitudes have consequences. Appointment of a new top management cannot help sell the old, bad product.

            India was the first to burst Khan’s bubble. Khan wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought talks between Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. India initially agreed, leading to premature euphoria in Islamabad.

            For years, Pakistan’s leaders have defined the ability to keep India engaged diplomatically as an accomplishment in itself, even when no substantive progress is made in India-Pakistan talks.

            As nuclear-armed neighbours, it makes sense for both sides to continue talking. But after terrorist attacks in India following Modi’s trip to Lahore in 2015, Indians had decided to stop talking.

            There has been much speculation over why the Modi government initially agreed to the foreign ministers meeting in New York and subsequently changed its mind. The language of the statement by the Indian ministry of external affairs announcing the cancellation was definitely undiplomatic and provocative. But the argument that Pakistan must act against anti-India terrorists operating from its soil before there can be meaningful talks was certainly not new.

            As if to prove India’s point that the Pakistani side only wanted talks to score a point, not to solve any outstanding problems, Khan’s response to the cancellation of talks was worse. He tweeted about Modi being among “small men occupying big offices who do not have the vision to see the larger picture”.

            Those familiar with Pakistani hawks’ characterisation of Indian leaders in the past could see the pattern in Khan’s egomaniacal bravado. Field Marshal Ayub Khan’s propagandists had described Lal Bahadur Shastri as “a little man” during the 1965 war and General Yahya Khan had been dismissive about Indira Gandhi being “that woman”.

            Of course, the outcome of the anti-India bombast in 1965 and 1971 was not favourable for Pakistan and, notwithstanding the Modi government’s purported mishandling of ties with Pakistan, nor will the current swagger. But in the Pakistani establishment’s worldview – which is shared by Khan and his hyper-nationalist supporters – that is beside the point.

            While India’s refusal to talk could be chalked up to the historic India-Pakistan dynamic, the lukewarm response of China, Saudi Arabia, and the United States to Khan’s diplomatic initiatives represents greater challenges. It seems that major partners around the world want Pakistan to change its policies, not just its prime ministers, and that change in policy does not seem to be on the cards.

            If anything, the Khan government, backed by the establishment, has doubled down on the failed policies of the past. Foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, insisted recently that there can be no peace in Afghanistan without Pakistan, implying that Pakistan must be given a veto on the future of Afghanistan. This defies the notion of a peace process that is owned and led by Afghanistan’s government.

            Similarly, Pakistan’s UN ambassador recently called on the international community to differentiate between ‘terrorists’ and ‘freedom fighters’ – an argument that was effectively buried by UN Security Council Resolution 1566 of 2004. That resolution defined terrorist acts and declared that they are “under no circumstances justifiable by considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or other similar nature”.

            Instead of insisting on an ideologically driven, unrealistic agenda for engagement with the rest of the world, Pakistan needs to see itself from others’ eyes and embrace some humility. Whether it’s the issue of terrorism or the question of abiding by international contracts, Pakistan must change its policy direction.

            Until that happens, Pakistanis can express to each other as much optimism as they like about their future, based on the ‘dynamism’ and ‘incorruptibility’ of their new leadership. The rest of the world will not be swayed by such rhetoric.

            Husain Haqqani, director for South and Central Asia at the Hudson Institute in Washington D.C., was Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States from 2008-11. His latest book is ‘Reimagining Pakistan’.
            Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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            • Originally posted by Oracle View Post
              The FATF team - The visiting team comprises Ian Collins of the UK’s New Scotland Yard, James Prussing the US Department of the Treasury, Ashraf Abdulla of Financial Intelligence Unit of Maldives, Boby Wahyu Hernawan of the Indonesian Ministry of Finance, Gong Jingyan of People’s Bank of China, and Mustafa Necmeddin Oztop of Turkish Ministry of Justice.
              Will have to be confirmed but the deadline is next Sept

              By the end of September next year, Pakistan has to comply with the 10-point action plan it committed with the FATF in June on combating terror financing and money laundering to get out of the grey list, or runs the risk of being downgraded into the black list.
              Originally posted by Oracle View Post
              Earlier in August, the APG — as part of the mutual evaluation — had identified a series of deficiencies in Pakistan’s AML/CFT mechanisms. By the end of September next year, Pakistan must comply with the 10-point action plan it committed to with the FATF or else it will fall into the black list.
              Pak source corrobrates
              Last edited by Double Edge; 15 Oct 18,, 11:50.

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              • Originally posted by Oracle View Post
                Been a while since i heard from Moeed

                Second, Pakistan needs to reorient its thinking from geo-security to geo-economics.

                About the only way to develop a genuine Indian stake in Pakistan’s stability while gaining economically is to position Pakistan as a regional trade and transit hub.

                CPEC is the perfect start. Adding on east-west connectivity by allowing India access to Afghanistan and Central Asia (ideally in return for its acceptance of CPEC) and championing fast tracking of already-agreed upon energy projects that flow from Central Asia to India will offer Pakistan significant transit fees and local economic benefits, remove India’s opposition to CPEC, and force genuine economic interdependence. The outcome will also align with the US interest in offering Afghanistan greater economic opportunity and incidentally, China’s ultimate goal of doing the same.

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                • India will use CPEC to negotiate with China, not with the Somalia of South Asia that dazzles in islamic terrorism. So Moeed's argument is null. As days became months, months became years, and years became decades, I have come to realise that short of an imbecile brain from Pakistan Army/ISI that directs another terrorist mayhem in an Indian metro, India will not go to war to punish the cancerous hell-hole that is Pakistan.

                  With a regional economic clout that is expanding every year and a security infrastructure that is being upgraded albeit slowly, India will not solve the Kashmir problem. It's always in India's interest to name and shame Pakistan in every international forum that she is a member of, which in itself is a check, while India balances its interests in Kashmir by killing the terrorists that Pakistan infiltrates.
                  Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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                  • PM Khan says Pakistan might look towards IMF to address mounting balance of payments crisis

                    Who remembers that Imran Khan called Nawaz a beggar who runs to the IMF some years back? Karma has come full circle.

                    Pakistan will have to take tough decisions if US blocks bailout

                    US to review Chinese debt before decision on Pakistan’s loan request

                    Pakistan seeks US support for IMF bailout

                    Pakistan to share CPEC debt details with IMF: Asad Umar

                    Pakistan's bailout exposes some serious flaws in China's belt and road plan

                    IMF should evaluate CPEC projects objectively while granting bailout package to Pakistan: China
                    Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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                    • Before Imran Taliban Khan became a puppet PM - Nawaz is a beggar who runs to the IMF & US for bailouts.
                      After becoming puppet PM - We will not sell our sovereignty, we will not disclose details of CPEC with IMF or anyone else.
                      Now - We'll share details of everything. Please, I beg of Allah, give us the bailout money.
                      After getting the bailout money - All non-muslims are Wajib ul Qatal.

                      What a joke this country has been since its creation in 1947.
                      Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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                      • Swaminathan Aiyar's View: Surgical strikes better for surgeon than the patient
                        Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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                        • Haryana: Mosque in Palwal built with Lashkar-e-Taiba funds, says NIA

                          A mosque in Palwal district of Haryana has come under the scrutiny of security agencies after a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe found that it was allegedly built with funds from the Hafiz Saeed-led Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Pakistan.

                          The Khulafa-e-Rashideen masjid at Uttawar village in Palwal was searched by NIA officers on October 3, days after the agency arrested three men, including the Imam of the masjid, Mohammed Salman, in New Delhi in an alleged terror-funding case.

                          While residents of Uttawar said the mosque is embroiled in a land dispute and were unaware of Salman’s links to the LeT, the NIA is questioning office bearers of the mosque and scrutinising the account books, details of donations and documents seized.

                          Salman (52), Mohammed Salim and Sajjad Abdul Wani were arrested on September 26 for allegedly receiving terror funding from Lahore-based Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), an NGO set up by Hafiz Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), Lashkar’s parent organisation.

                          NIA investigations, sources said, have found that Salman allegedly funnelled FIF money to build the mosque in Palwal. “Salman, who came in touch with LeT associated men when he was in Dubai, had been receiving funds from FIF. The organisation, we have learnt, gave him Rs 70 lakh to build a mosque in Uttawar. It even gave him money for the marriage of his daughters. We are now probing from where the mosque has been receiving its donations and how this money is being used,” an NIA officer said.

                          The officer said that Salman, who hails from Uttawar but has been living in Delhi since childhood, was among the largest contributors to a fund that was raised to build the mosque. Sources said that residents of the village arranged for over 10 acres of land on its own while money for construction was given by Salman.

                          The NIA alleged that this money actually came from the FIF. “The village does not appear to be aware of the source of funds. They believe it has come from Salman,” said another officer. After Salman’s arrest in September, the NIA, in an official statement said: “During investigation, it emerged that one Mohammad Salman…is in regular touch with one Dubai-based Pakistani national, who in turn is connected with the Deputy Chief of Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation. The accused person has been receiving funds, being sent by FIF operators and his associates through hawala operators.”

                          According to the NIA, the FIF is a front-end organisation of “the LeT, a terror organisation proscribed under UAPA… FIF is placed on the list of terrorist organisations as per entry 33 in the First Schedule to the UAPA read with Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism (Implementation of Security Council Resolutions) Order 2016”.

                          In the village of Uttawar, however, few buy the NIA story. Most believe it is a result of a court battle between the villagers and some families squatting on the mosque land. “Because we are trying to evict them, it appears someone has given this wrong information to the police. No one in the village can believe such a thing. Salman comes from a very reputed family in the village. No one from his family has ever had a criminal case against them,” said Khalid Hussain. Hussain was present at the mosque when it was searched and is the son of former Uttawar Sarpanch, Akhtar Hussain.

                          Salman’s cousin Yaqub (77) also vouches for his innocence. “In Islam, betraying the nation is a sin. Hafiz Saeed is a foreigner. A God-fearing man like Salman would never align with him,” he said.

                          The current Imam of the mosque, Mohammed Jamshed, shows a ledger book which has entries of daily expenses. “All you will find here is an account of onions, garlic and tomatoes. Our records are absolutely clean. We do not investigate the source of contributions. This mosque has been built with contributions from a lot of people. We do not know where Salman got his money from. But I am not ready to believe he would put dirty money here. If at all it is dirty money, I doubt if he knew that himself,” said Jamshed.

                          According to Uttawar residents, Salman’s late father, Maulvi Dawood, is well-regarded among Muslims in the Mewat region. He migrated to Delhi more than 50 years ago and was an Imam of a significant mosque in Nizamuddin till his death. For Uttawar, he was an authority on Islam and had the final say in all disputes in the village.

                          He had imparted the same knowledge to his oldest son Salman. “That is why when in 2009 the village earmarked 10 acres for the mosque and the work began the next year, Salman was not only made the in-charge of mosque construction and fund collection, but also its Imam. There was no one else in the village better suited for this because of his pedigree,” said Mohammed Saad, who runs the mosque Madarsa.

                          For the past eight years, according to villagers, Salman visited Uttawar regularly where he stayed in a small, spartan room near the mosque to oversee its construction. The mosque is still under construction and villagers are waiting for more money to complete it.

                          According to NIA, Salman was involved in taxi and dairy product businesses but had incurred losses. Later, he went to Saudi Arabia for Umrah. “He also visited Dubai a few years back where he met few Pakistani nationals and thereafter started getting funds through hawala,” said an NIA officer.

                          The NIA Friday also raided a Kashmiri shawl shop in Lajpat Nagar and a house in connection with its probe into the case. It has recovered several “ incriminating documents” and Rs 18 lakh in cash apart from six mobile phones during the raids.

                          The premises belong to Hilal Ahmed Rather, who hails from Kashmir. It is suspected that Hilal was running the shop as a front to launder FIF money, said NIA sources. Hilal’s name cropped up when Salman and Sajjad Wani, were questioned.
                          Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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                          • Soft Terrorism -> Slain terrorist Wani was 'victim of relentless violence' in Valley: Mehbooba Mufti

                            PTI deletes tweet calling Nawaz Sharif 'beggar' over IMF bailout

                            31 Bangladeshis flee Bengaluru fearing police action, held in Assam
                            Last edited by Oracle; 16 Oct 18,, 11:02.
                            Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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                            • A report from 2012, doesn't mean China has closed the tap.
                              Maoists building weapons factories in India with help from China
                              Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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                              • Longread | How to counter Pakistan’s proxy war

                                Totally agree + some other points I raised couple of years back to punish Pakistan. Like for e.g., expelling the Pak ambassador from India, and closing down the Indian embassy in Pak.
                                Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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