Pakistan no longer ‘safe haven’ for terrorists: Imran Khan

TIL Desk/World/Islamabad/ There are no “safe havens” for terror groups in Pakistan “right now”, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday while acknowledging publicly that it was possibly not the case earlier. Addressing an international conference marking 40 years of hosting Afghan refugees in the country, he said Pakistan seeks peace in Afghanistan and instability in the war-torn neighbouring country was not in its interest.

Khan’s assertion on terror safe havens came as the Financial Action Task Force, the global anti-money laundering watchdog, began a crucial meeting in Paris where Pakistan is trying to wriggle out of being blacklisted for not doing enough to combat terror financing.

The United States, India and Afghanistan have long accused Pakistan of providing safe havens to terror groups like the Taliban, the Haqqani network, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed. “I can tell you that there are no safe havens here,” Khan said at a conference in Islamabad also attended by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.