Designate Pakistan As 'State Sponsor of Terrorism', US Lawmaker Demands In New Bill

The main categories of sanctions that may result from designation include restrictions on US foreign assistance; a ban on defence exports and sales; certain controls over exports among others

New Delhi: A US lawmaker from the state of Pennsylvania has introduced a bill seeking to designate Pakistan as a "state sponsor of terrorism".

Sponsored by Representative Scott Perry, the bill seeks to provide for the designation of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, and for other purposes. "This bill has now been referred to the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs,” news agency ANI reported.

What sanctions may Pakistan see if Bill is passed?

There are four main categories of sanctions that may result from designation under these authorities — restrictions on US foreign assistance; a ban on defence exports and sales; certain controls over exports of dual use items; and miscellaneous financial and other restrictions.

Designation under the category also imposes other sanctions and laws that penalise persons and countries engaging in certain trade with state sponsors. As of now, four countries have been designated by the US under these authorities: Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), Iran, and Syria.

This comes amid the global financial crime watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) decided to retain Pakistan on its terror financing ‘grey list’ in a recent meeting, according to news agency PTI.

The Paris-based task force has asked Islamabad to address at the earliest the remaining deficiencies in its financial system.  Since June 2018 Pakistan was on the grey list for failing to check money laundering, leading to terror financing, and was given a plan of action to complete it by October 2019.

Pakistan is now targeting the full completion of the 2021 action plan on anti-money laundering and combating terror financing by the end of January 2023.