A FEW days ago, the Punjab counterterrorism force and a military intelligence agency smashed a ‘media cell’ of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent in Gujranwala. The cell was being used by the militant group to plan and finance its terrorist operations, and communicate and propagate its message through social media tools. The group, which was being watched by the two agencies for quite some time, had recently relocated to the city from Karachi to avoid action against its operators. The raiding team has arrested five trained members of the group and recovered a large number of laptops carrying encrypted data for communication with senior leaders based in Afghanistan, mobile phones and files containing banned content, cash, suicide jackets, explosives and weapons. The action has helped the authorities avert an attack by the militant organisation against law-enforcement agencies in Punjab. This action against AQIS is being referred to as the most significant development against militants operating out of Punjab in the last two years.

The action taken against militant groups under the National Action Plan during the last few years has made them halt their terror activities. But a couple of recent incidents in Lahore — whose coverage in the media was apparently suppressed by the authorities — demonstrate that the pause could be temporary. The latest action against AQIS underscores the reality that militant groups may be down but are still not out. That eliminates any room, if indeed it exists, for complacency on the part of the agencies tasked with eradicating militancy and terrorist financing in the country. Their job has become even more important after the placement of Pakistan on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force. At the last FATF plenary, Pakistan narrowly escaped being blacklisted, which would have meant depressing consequences for its economic future. The FATF has warned that Pakistan could be downgraded further in February unless it makes significant progress on meeting the global anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing standards. The IMF has again cautioned that Pakistan’s failure to implement global AML/CTF standards could cause the promised capital inflows to freeze up and jeopardise the Fund’s current programme. Pakistan can avoid this hazard only by effectively and swiftly plugging holes in the country’s AML/CTF regime, taking action against the militants, and producing enough evidence to have them convicted in a court of law. The sooner the government acknowledges the challenges publicly, the better it will be for the country.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2019