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Time of India
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
No shortage of terrorists: Former Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar accidentally confirms what India always said
Synopsis In an awkward Al Jazeera interview, Pakistan's former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar tried to brush off India's claim that Hafiz Abdul Rauf, a UN-sanctioned Lashkar-e-Taiba leader, led funeral prayers for slain terrorists. But when a journalist confronted her with undeniable proof — a national ID number that matches US terror watchlists — her story began to fall apart. The saga throws fresh light on Pakistan's old habit of shielding known extremists under the guise of denial.
Time of India
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
'Millions of Abdul Raufs': Ex-Pakistan FM Hina Rabbani downplays LeT terrorist's funeral photo; gets fact-checked by journalist
Hina Rabbani Khar (Picture from X) Pakistan's former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar faced an uncomfortable moment during a recent Al Jazeera interview as she attempted to defend a man, seen leading funeral prayers for terrorists killed in India's counterterror Operation Sindoor. The individual, widely identified as senior Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader Hafiz Abdul Rauf, a UN-designated terrorist, was seen leading funeral prayers for terrorists killed in the Operation Sindoor strikes, where the bodies were accorded full state honours in Pakistan, with uniformed police and army personnel in attendance. Khar claimed the man in question was not the LeT figure India accuses him of being. "I am telling you with authority, with evidence which has been shared with the whole world, that this is not the man that you (India) are claiming it to be. There are a million Abdul Raufs in Pakistan," she said, dismissing India's assertion. However, her defence began to falter when the interviewer pointed out that the man's national ID number matches one listed on the US Treasury Department's sanctions database. The journalist mentioned that the national identity number belonging to Hafiz Abdul Rauf -- 35202-5400413-9 -- was identical to the one listed by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the US Treasury's list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT). by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Ystradgynlais: If You Were Born Between 1945-1974 You Could Be Eligible For This British Seniors Get Quote Pressed further, Khar responded, "The Pakistani army is defending this man. The Pakistani army is not defending the person who is proscribed by the US." She continued, "The ISPR (Inter-Services Public Relations of Pakistan Army) categorically has said that this is not the same person, and you just sat over here and told me that they just defended him and did not say it is not the same person." The man at the centre of the controversy, Hafiz Abdul Rauf, is known to be a close associate of 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and holds senior status in the LeT. The presence of his identity number in the official document shown by Pakistan's military spokesperson, DG ISPR Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif, matched that of the terrorist sanctioned by the United States. Under Operation Sindoor, India carried out precision strikes on nine terrorist hubs in Pakistan and PoK, including a major Lashkar-e-Taiba base in Muridke, which was reduced to rubble. In an unexpected revelation, the same US list also names Lt Gen Sharif's father, Mahmood Sultan Bashiruddin, as a designated terrorist with links to al-Qaida -- further raising questions about the Pakistani military's role in shielding extremists.
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First Post
10-06-2025
- Business
- First Post
FATF can salvage its counter-terrorism credentials by cracking down on Pakistan
With the second meeting of the FATF scheduled to commence today, countries interested in the fight against terrorism and its financing need to re-evaluate Pakistan's role in failing to crack down on terrorism from its soil read more Should the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) take a sharper and closer look at Pakistan's counter-terrorism reality? With the second meeting of the FATF scheduled to commence on 10 June 2025, like-minded countries invested in the fight against terrorism and its financing need to re-evaluate Pakistan's role in failing to crack down on terrorism from its soil. Pakistan has thrice been listed on FATF's Grey List in the past, from 2008-2010, 2012-2015 and 2018-2022. The third time around, it landed on the list after the motion was initiated by the United States and supported by the United Kingdom, France and Germany due to Pakistan's glaring deficiencies in counter-terrorist financing (CFT). STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The recent events around the conduct of Operation Sindoor are a stark reality check on the complicity of the Pakistani state in supporting, funding and participating in terrorism. If the world needed any further proof, Pakistan did not hesitate to provide it in full glare of the world media. Shortly after the successful precision strikes, senior military commanders stood in solidarity at the funeral prayer meeting, led by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist commander Hafiz Abdul Rauf. Pakistani military personnel went a step further by carrying the coffins of terrorists to reinforce their support and backing for UN-proscribed terrorist groups and their leaders. Terrorist leaders from the LeT and JuD have since been seen openly galvanising support for terrorism from Pakistan and collecting funds to provide an impetus to their 'jihad'. The Pakistani 'establishment' and terrorist handlers are confident that, having escaped the FATF clutches, they can continue to support terrorism as a state policy. Pakistan has been at pains to highlight Kashmir as the point of contention with India. On the contrary, it is Pakistan's employment of terrorism as an instrument of hybrid war that should remain the focus of attention of world capitals. And the best way to curb Pakistani adventurism is to retain strict control over the proliferation of terrorism by organisations like the FATF. There is no better way to ensure stability in the region and restrict the export from the terrorism factory of the world, and curbing its funding. The FATF is a 40-member, inter-governmental, multinational body that acts as a 'watchdog' against money laundering and terrorist financing. India is a member of the grouping. The FATF sets standards to fight terrorist finance and, along with its affiliated bodies, evaluates member countries for their compliance with its guidelines. This includes technical compliance, such as the absence of or inadequacy of laws. More importantly, its focus on the effectiveness of implementation highlights weaknesses or, worse, wilful defiance of countries like Pakistan in fighting terrorism. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Pakistan's last evaluation by the FATF was done in 2019. Its report was a national embarrassment for the country, at the very least. If Pakistan's evaluation is compared to a student's school report card, then, of the 11 effectiveness parameters, Pakistan failed in 10 and got a compartment in one! The rowdy kid's abysmal report card was not a sign of inability or a lack of resources to study. It came from the confidence to successfully fool not only the class teacher but the entire school faculty. This does not come as a surprise, given the country's record of nurturing and sheltering UN proscribed terrorist groups and their commanders. The evaluation report noted that 'Several UN-listed organisations continue to operate openly in Pakistan, including holding fundraising events.' Pakistan has mastered the art of obfuscating reality and window dressing the true face of its parallel terror economy. The appeasement of major powers by handing over selective terrorist leaders and promising to safeguard economic interests like the CPEC corridor is not a guarantee against the spread of the contagion. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD If the FATF does intend to expose Pakistan's age-old strategy of running with the hares and hunting with the hounds, then its record of fighting terrorism deserves closer scrutiny. Member countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany that have been victims of Pakistan's terror factories should support India's attempt at stabilising the region by curbing the funding of terrorism in Pakistan. The international community must realise that the Pakistani establishment's repeated claims of being a victim of terrorism are inherently flawed. It is not the West that is responsible for Pakistan's terror woes, unlike Defence Minister Khawaja Asif's repeated assertions. It is Pakistan's strategy of promoting extremist thought and sowing jihadi ideology that is hollowing its social fabric. Pakistan has been fooling the world by selectively fighting terrorism and equally selectively sharing figures of terrorists prosecuted and acted against. If this continues, little change can be expected. It is time to reintroduce the motion in the FATF to at least place Pakistan on the Grey List. This is despite the reality of mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the blackest of them all? Pakistan. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Col Vivek Chadha (Retd) is a Senior Fellow at Manohar Parrikar IDSA. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
Hindustan Times
23-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
India to push FATF to put Pak on its grey list again
India will push for placing Pakistan in the grey list again at the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) plenary meeting in June , making available evidence that Islamabad failed to enforce anti-money laundering and counter-terror reforms and made no headway in prosecuting UN-designated terrorists, a senior official said. There is a strong case to put Pakistan back in the grey list, this person added on condition of anonymity. The global money laundering and terrorism financing watchdog holds three plenary meetings that usually take place in June, October and February of each year. Pakistan is due for an evaluation in 2026 and non-compliance or slippage could result in a grey listing. Countries in the grey list are given an action plan, and their implementation of this is monitored every four months. If countries in the grey list fail to show any progress, then they are pushed to the 'black list' and subjected to countermeasures. Countries which do not participate in FATF's mutual evaluation process – Iran and North Korea, for instance -- are also blacklisted. Pakistan's inclusion in the grey list would hurt its credit worthiness and the cash-strapped country will face severe difficulties in getting financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support it. In October 2022, FATF took Pakistan off its grey list after the country ostensibly strengthened the effectiveness of its anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CFT) regime. India hopes to make a case by highlighting Pakistan's support for proscribed terrorists such as Hafiz Abdul Rauf, a US-designated terrorist and senior Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative, who was seen in images of a funeral attended by Pakistani army personnel after India's strikes at terror hubs in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir as part of Operation Sindoor, a response to the targetted killing of 26 people, 24 of them Hindu, in a terror strike at Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir. Pakistan tried to pass off the terrorist as an 'ordinary family man'. India will also oppose any funding for Pakistan at the World Bank's upcoming meetings, the official said. The World Bank holds two key meetings in a year – Spring meetings in April and Annual meetings in October. India is making all efforts to expose Pakistan's clandestine support to terrorists. According to a second official, who too asked not to be named, India's strong protest at the IMF against extending development loans forced the multilateral agency to impose about a dozen stringent conditions on the country. 'Pakistan is unlikely to meet those conditions and thus it would not be able to avail the IMF funding,' he claimed. He added that while IMF cannot stop project-specific funding when all required criteria are fully met, India's effort to highlight Pakistan's terror links and flag possible diversion of funds led to the multilateral institution imposing 11 conditions. 'India is not against multilateral agencies such as IMF and World Bank extending financial support for the development of people of Pakistan. But, there is ample evidence that these development funds are diverted by Islamabad from development projects to arms purchases and terror funding,' he said. Citing data available with multilateral agencies, the second person added: 'Pakistan spends on average around 18% of its general budget on 'defence affairs and services', while even the conflict-affected countries spend far less on average (10-14% of their general budget expenditure). Further, Pakistan's arms imports increased dramatically from 1980 to 2023 by over 20% on average in the years when it received IMF disbursements in comparison to years when it did not receive the same.'
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First Post
20-05-2025
- Business
- First Post
Operation Sindoor: Winning the perception war globally
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri displaying a picture of terrorist Hafiz Abdul Rauf and members of the Pakistani military at the funeral of terrorists killed during the Operation Sindoor strikes. ANI India decisively won the four-day conflict against Pakistan. But in the international media and within sections of the global intelligence community, Operation Sindoor is regarded as only a qualified success. From May 7-10, India degraded Pakistan's terror infrastructure and severely damaged its military bases. After a week of denials, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif finally admitted during a public address that India had successfully hit several Pakistani military airbases, including Nur Khan, with ballistic missiles. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Most neutral experts have called Operation Sindoor a notable success in the fight against global terror. As David Vance, a British commentator pointed out, India is helping the West fight the global war on terrorism whose hub lies in Pakistan. So why is the West discomfited by India's unprecedented attack, with precision-guided munitions, on a nuclear-armed country? Why has US President Donald Trump tried to downplay India's successful military response to the brutal attack on 26 tourists in Kashmir by Pakistani terrorists? There are two key reasons. First, the Western establishment sees India, now the world's fourth largest economy, in the same light it perceived China 15 years ago: a rising power that could pose a future threat to 300 years of Western global hegemony. Any event that moderates India's rise is in the West's interest. This, however, presents the West with a conundrum. It regards China as a far bigger geopolitical problem than a rising India. China has already risen. Its economy, at nearly $20 trillion, is two-thirds America's $30 trillion economy. India's GDP at $4.19 trillion is still small but its annual growth rate is treble America's and double China's. The gap between the three will close sooner rather than later. The second reason for the global reaction is commercial. The US sells a significant amount of military hardware to Pakistan, including F-16 fighter jets. These performed poorly against India's new 4.5 generation stealth Rafale fighters whose lethal Scalp missiles have a 400-km standoff range. The outcome was not a good advertisement globally for US defence companies like Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Raytheon which supply military hardware around the world. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD US media immediately took the cue and downplayed India's military success in Operation Sindoor. Several US media organisations have Pakistan-origin editors. They gave the conflict a spin that called it a draw when facts pointed to a clear Pakistan defeat. China stays out To Pakistan's disappointment, China did not make an attempt to open up a second front on the LAC. The poor performance of Chinese military equipment and fighter jets in the conflict was blamed by Chinese military strategists on the relative incompetence of Pakistani Air Force (PAF) fighter pilots, not the quality of Chinese hardware. India's Operation Sindoor has crossed a Lakshman Rekha in two ways. One, it has demonstrated to Pakistan that nuclear blackmail is no longer a restraining impediment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it ominously clear when he said: 'A future terror attack will be regarded as an act of war.' This closes the option Pakistan has exercised for decades: launching terror attacks behind a nuclear shield. That shield has been breached. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Two, the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) serves as a new deterrent. India has swifty begun to use water it was always entitled to legally under the IWT which came into force in 1960. Out of a misplaced sense of goodwill, India had not used its full legal quota of water for over six decades. Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said candidly last week: 'As far as J&K is concerned, we have never supported the Indus Waters Treaty. We have always believed that it is the most unjust document for the people of Jammu & Kashmir. Opposing a blatantly unfair treaty (IWT) is in no way, shape, size or form warmongering. It's about correcting a historic injustice that denied the people of J&K the right to use our water for ourselves.' Abdullah said that with the IWT suspended, hydro-electric power plants could transform the Union territory's economy. For example, he pointed out, 'The Wular lake is in North Kashmir. Civil works on the Tulbul Navigation Barrage were started in the early 1980s but had to be abandoned under pressure from Pakistan citing the Indus Waters Treaty. Now that the IWT has been suspended, we may be able to resume the project.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Multi-party global outreach What India must now do falls into three buckets. First, ensure that the decision to send multi-party teams to various countries later this week does not appear as a defensive tactic. India does not owe anybody an explanation for Operation Sindoor. The various teams must focus on demonstrating with evidence the scourge of Pakistan's decades-long use of terrorism against India. Second, the teams must present graphic proof of the success of Operation Sindoor and why it has only been paused, not completed. Third, they must expose, with published examples, the deliberate bias in Western media coverage of the conflict and how the bias diminishes their editorial credibility. Pakistan has spent millions of dollars in the US on lobbying firms. These firms have strong ties with Congressional leaders in both the Senate and the House of Representatives as well as with legacy media organisations. These relationships are used to airbrush evidence of Islamabad's links with UN-designated terror groups. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD India has the ability – and the goodwill – to hire the best US lobbying firms to state its case with evidence and seize control of the narrative. Above all, the key task for the multi-party teams preparing to set off to different geographies this week is to de-hyphenate India from Pakistan. Pakistan's GDP at $360 billion is smaller than the GDP of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). Just as US wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan did not hyphenate the US with those countries, the multi-party teams must make it clear that India is dealing with what Defence Minister Rajnath Singh last week called a rogue nation. The writer is an editor, author and publisher. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
