PPP slams Imran Khan led Pakistan govt for failing to exit from FATF grey list, controlling inflation

Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) senior leadership on Tuesday attacked the Imran Khan-led government for its failures in various areas of governance, including getting Pakistan removed from Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) grey list and controlling inflation.

"Who is running Pakistan?" asked PPP Senator Sherry Rehman, while listing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government's alleged failures at a press conference in Islamabad, reported Dawn.

Rehman alleged that the government had drafted flawed bills concerning FATF's action plan in haste, and had tried to get them passed through the parliament in a rush.

It was the opposition that worked day and night to improve the legislation through the help of experts, she further added.

According to Dawn, Rehman, who was accomped by other PPP leaders, said the government was "celebrating" having met 21 targets of the FATF's 27-point action plan.

"The country is still in the grey list, and you are celebrating this and fooling Pakistan's people and parliament?" she asked.

"We demand explanations from ministers who used FATF's laws to say that Pakistan was exposed only due to the opposition," she said, and also asked the government to explain whether Pakistan was still subject to "enhanced monitoring" by the global anti-money laundering and counter-terror financing watchdog.

The senator further accused the government of having used the FATF legislation for the "witch-hunt" of opposition members and not using the opposition's cooperation as an opportunity to create a consensus.

She said although the opposition was currently supporting the government for the sake of people's issues, the government was "dividing the parliament and the country" and clashing with the opposition.

"The tabahi sarkaar (destruction regime) has only caused destruction," Rehman said.

Further citing the increases in prices of food items, the Senator mentioned that even though although inflation was the country's real issue at the moment, no one was talking about it because the government had entangled everyone in a "war of narratives".

Terming the government as a "na-maloon sarkaar (unidentified regime)", she said the government needed to be asked how it will bring the country out of the economic crisis and repay the loans.

Rehman also berated the government for allegedly failing to take action against the persons responsible for the wheat and sugar crises and allowing them to go abroad.

"An attempt is being made to make the parliament completely irrelevant [and] the President has become an ordinance factory," the PPP leader said.

Rehman also alleged that journalists were being harassed every other day and the government feigned ignorance on the issue.

Earlier, in a major setback to the Imran Khan-led government, Pakistan will continue to be on FATF's Grey List with the anti-terror financing watchdog asking it to continue to work on implementing action plan to address its strategic deficiencies including demonstrating that its law enforcement agencies are identifying and investigating the widest range of terrorist financing activity and demonstrating that prosecutions result in effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions.

It also asked Pakistan to demonstrate effective implementation of targeted financial sanctions against all designated terrorists, identifying and freezing assets and prohibiting access to funds and financial services.

( With inputs from ANI )