Dr. Talat Wizarat (IR Expert): The FATF’s acknowledgement of Pakistan’s role is highly encouraging. They should have removed Pakistan immediately from the grey list. I think FATF will wait till October to see how much compliant is Pakistan till that time. Foreign investment will increase in Pakistan when it is removed from grey list besides a number of other advantages. We should take a neutral stance on Russia Ukraine war as we cannot afford to stand in one camp or another in international politics.

Muhammad Ahsan Malik (Real Estate Analyst): Acknowledgement of Pakistan’s role by FATF is a significant development. We appreciate the present government and coordination committee including government and GHQ representatives who worked really hard to comply with the requirements of FATF. The real estate sector is also complying with these requirements as now buyers and sellers will have to maintain record of their transactions. For this purpose, many seminars and conferences were organized to educate people about FATF requirements. Now, FATF team is going to visit Pakistan soon and hopefully the country will be out of grey list by October this year. When Pakistan re-joins white list, foreign remittances as well as investments will increase in the country.

Shakeel Ramay (Economist): The decision making process in FATF has become quite political. It is a good decision for Pakistan. However, the government of Pakistan and political parties should strengthen their international political clout to get the FATF decision in favor. Secondly, we must avoid credit game as it could convert into blame game. This will send a negative signal to FATF resulting in bad decision for us. Pakistan provided a way out to US for its withdrawal from Afghanistan and this could also be a reason for a better decision for Islamabad.  

Dr. Zahid Anwar Khan (IR Expert): India is violating human right violations in Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir with impunity. New Delhi is using rape as weapon of war to crush the Kashmiris’ just struggle for right to self-determination. It is responsibility of the international community to keep a strong check on India and urge it to stop its human rights violations in IIOJ&K. In addition, OIC should play a vibrant role to highlight the injustices against Muslims in India and put pressure on New Delhi to stop these atrocities. They can raise a campaign against Indian atrocities on Kashmiris as well as boycotting Indian products. The Muslims living in Western countries should also raise this issue with their respective governments.