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WASHINGTON: Pakistan has made “limited progress” in its commitment to eliminate all terrorist groups operating outside its territory, the US State Department told Congress in an annual report on global terrorism. According to the report published on Thursday, the State Department acknowledged that Pakistan has taken steps in 2020 to combat the financing of terrorism and to rein in India-focused terrorist groups.
“The Pakistani government also continued to support the Afghan peace process,” it said. Pakistan made limited progress on the most difficult aspects of its 2015 National Action Plan to Combat Terrorism, particularly in its commitment to eliminate all terrorist organizations without delay or discrimination.’ An anti-terrorism court in Lahore In February and again in November, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed was convicted on several counts of terror financing and sentenced him to five years and six months in prison.
At the same time, Pakistan failed to take steps to prosecute Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) founder Masood Azhar and other terrorists living on its soil such as Lashkar’s Sajid Mir, the State Department said at the same time, the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, the State Department said. One of the perpetrators of the attacks is an accused. The Sindh High Court on April 2 overturned the 2002 sentence awarded to Omar Shaikh and three co-conspirators for the kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.
The report said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had upheld the April decision of the Sindh High Court. “Pakistan did not act against other known terrorists such as Jaish founder and UN designated terrorist Masood Azhar and Sajid Mir, the ‘project manager’ of the 2008 Mumbai attacks,” the State Department said.
“Pakistan has made positive contributions to the Afghanistan peace process, such as encouraging the Taliban to reduce violence,” the report said. Pakistan made additional progress towards completing its Financial Action Task Force (FATF) action plan in 2020, but did not meet all action plan conditions, and remains on the FATF’s ‘grey list’.
