Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that his government had seized 65 properties of four banned organisations under UNSC Act 1948 and UNSC Freezing & Seizure Order 2019.
This he said while discussing measures taken by his government to deter terror financing with an American delegation comprising US Congressman Jim Himes, Sean Patrick Maloney, US Congressman and Member of the House Permanente Select Committee on Intelligence, Consul General of USA Robert Silberstein, Deputy Consul General Darian Arky, Ms Amanda Rogers Thrope, Aaron Thurman, Ms Lisa Major, Neil Philips and Saleh Shah. The chief minister was assisted by Secretary Home Kazi Kabir and PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro. The chief minister said that 59 properties of Jamatud Dawa, Falah-e-Insanyat Foundation and Jaishe Mohammad and six properties of Tehrik-i-Taliban Afghanistan had been seized under UNSC Act 1948 and UNSC Freezing & Seizure Order 2019. Shah said that Sindh is the land of Sufis and its people are tolerant, therefore, the existence of any proscribed organisation or entity had not been traced here, so no arrest or prosecution of any individual in connection with UN Sanction Regime 1267 and 1373 had been made.
Talking about Terror Finance related cases, Shah said that 47 [Terror Financing] cases had been registered and were being investigated by Counter Terrorism Department of Sindh police. “Provincial Home department constitutes JITs members from State comprising of members from State Bank of Pakistan, Financial Monitoring Unit and in Complex Terror Financing cases as per requirement of CTD, Sindh.
Talking about Non-profit Organisations (NPOs), the chief minister said that 527 or 11.5 percent of all active NPOs survey was conducted to assess their vulnerability regarding Terror Financing. The Survey data has also been shared with Ministry of Interior, Government of Pakistan. He added that 4693 inactive or non-functional NPOs have been de-registered, whereas further 2828 inactive NPOs were in process of de-registration by Social Welfare department. He went on saying that 1613 NPOs registered with Industries & Commerce department were also in process of de-registration in the first phase. Shah said that there were 25,426 NPOS registered in Sindh, of the 14,834 with Industries department and 10,592 NPOS with Social Welfare department.
The chief minister disclosed that 19 NPOs were under investigation in Sindh out of which 14 NPOS were affiliates of proscribed organisations such as JuD, FIF and JeM, whereas five NPOs were being investigated for their terror financing vulnerability. He also said that after enactment of Sindh Charities Act 2019 law in Sindh, action against the unregistered NPOs would be started. The said draft law has been approved by the provincial cabinet members.
The chief minister said that various policies such as NPOs registration and SOPs regarding collection of skins and hides have been issued and enforced to plug the implementation gaps in order to address Terror Financing related issues. Talking about anti-money laundering action taken by Sindh government, Murad Ali Shah said that he had constituted a Taskforce on Anti-Money Laundering under Home Secretary. The Taskforce has directed stakeholders such as Pakistan Customs, Airports Security Force and Federal Investigation Agency for establishment of Currency Detection Units at major airport top deter and detect currency smuggling.
The chief minister said that capacity building of government officials was made by holding seminars and workshops with relevant stakeholders, including DCs, commissioners, secretaries of relevant departments and agencies where UNSC Sanctions regime was explained and all the relevant information/guidance was shared with the participants.
Meanwhile, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the responsibilities of the provinces have increased manifold, therefore, the provincial government(s) could not spare funds from their shares in NFC for defunct FATA areas.
“Yes, the federal government has the capacity to allocate special funds from its share for the development of defunct FATA area.” This he said on Wednesday while responding to the question of an inter-provincial parliamentary delegation visiting Sindh on the invitation of Democracy Reporting International (DRI) here at CM House. The interaction meeting was attended by provincial ministers, Saeed Ghani, Imtiaz Shaikh and Advisor Murtaza Wahab. The delegation members were MPAs from Balochistan: Qadir Nail, Ahmed Nawaz, Ms Shakeela Qazi, Ms Bushra Rind, Mr Nasrullah Bareach and runina Khan. KPK MPAs, Ms Somi Falak Naz, Rabia Basri, Zeenat Bibi, Shafiq Afridi, Naeema Kishwarand Saeed Iqbal Mian. Pnjab MPAs: Ms Shamsa Ali, Ms Faiza Malik, Abdullah warraich, Nadeem Abbas and Farha Yousaf. The delegation was led by Javed Malik of DRI.
The chief minister said that the federal government just to squeeze the provincial position of the provinces has deliberately raised the e issue of curtailing three percent funds from the share of provinces for development of defunct FATA area. “This is totally unjustified and people of the provinces would not allow their chief minister to give away their rightful share at the cost of their development,” he said and added the federal government has an ample share in NFC, therefore it should finance development in formerly known as FATA areas.
To another question, Mr Shah said that in 2010 the PPP government had given NFC award on multiple criteria despite the fact it had different governments in provinces. In Punajb PML-N was in power, in KPK ANP had government, in Balochistan a collation government was formed by PPP and in Sindh the PPP had its government. “It was a gigantic task to develop consensus for the fisrt time to award NFC on multiple criteria,” he said and added its credit went to [President] Asif Ali Zardari.
Replying to a question Balochistan MPA, the chief minister said that Sindh government had never usurped water share of Balochistan. He added that Balochistan was given water from Guddu Barrage and Sukkur Barrage Right Bank NW Canal. “We give more water than the share of Balochistan from Guddu just to compensate the shortage,” he said and added at Sukkur barrage there was technical issue. He went on saying that there was technical problem under which the right bank canal couldn’t take water until a certain water level developed in the River.
Mr Shah said that the people of Sindh consider the people of Balochistan as their brothers and sisters, then how could we usurp their right. To another question of KPK MPA, the chief minister said that the Pakhtoons living in Karachi have merged in Sindh. “Sindh has a wide lap in which it absorbs every who comes here but the condition is iof the new comer accept it as his or her motherland,” he said and added “we came here from Arabian countries and settled here.” He assured the KPK MPA that the Pakhtuns living in Karachi were quite happy in terms of their financial and social status.
To another question, the chief minister said that he had a plan for expansion of Mazar of Hazrat Lal Shabaz Qalandar but the people living around it could not be removed forcibly. “I have tried to convince them but they are adamant to live near Mazar,” he said.
Mr Shah said that the Golden Gate (made of Gold) was given by Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and after him Shaheed Mohterma made the tomb of the Mausoleum of the gold. “The expansion work would be carried out when people voluntarily agreed to give their properties,” he said and said the provincial government would give them ample compensation.
The MPAs lauded the competence, frankness and receptive proclivity of the chief minister for openly discussing every issue with his politically opponent parliamentarians.
