ISLAMABAD: Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Bajwa met Prime Minister Imran Khan at his office on Monday for a discussion on the security situation, the PM Office said without giving any further details.

The government has initiated a crackdown against proscribed organisations to meet the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The last meeting of FATF plenary had found Pakistan lagging behind on its commitment for taking required measures to remove deficiencies in its counter-terror financing and anti-money laundering regime and had asked Islamabad to take required actions before the next appraisal.

Failure to take the required measures could see Pakistan falling from its current placement on grey list to blacklist with serious implications for the country’s financial system.

Gen Bajwa had last Thursday, while presiding over a meeting of corps commanders, ordered the Army to extend full support to the government in its crackdown on militant organisations under the National Action Plan (NAP) for fighting terrorism.

“COAS also directed to further the efforts in line with decisions of the government to accelerate implementation of NAP while rendering full assistance to other state institutions,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media affairs wing, had said in a statement about the meeting.

UN Security Council’s Sanctions Committee is also expected to take up this week a fresh resolution tabled by the US, the UK and France for designation of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

The prime minister and the army chief are believed to have discussed the latest situation in tensions with India.

Tensions with India have markedly receded since the peak of escalation a fortnight ago and high commissioners of both countries have returned to their usual diplomatic work, but the situation remained tense on the Line of Control (LoC) where another two civilians lost their lives due to Indian shelling.

“Indian troops resorted to unprovoked fire in Chakothi sector along LoC, targeting civilian population. Two civilians, including a woman, embraced shahadat, while four others were injured. Pakistan Army troops responded effectively targeting Indian post which initiated fire,” the ISPR said in a statement.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2019