In an attempt to undermine Pakistan and Saudi Arabia’s ties, anti-state elements circulated rumors on social media platforms on Thursday that Saudi Arabia has voted against Pakistan in the meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), creating widespread alarm among the people. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has rejected the news terming it as baseless.
“Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy strong fraternal ties and the two countries have always cooperated with each other on all matters of bilateral, regional, and international importance,” said the foreign office spokesperson.
The FO spokesperson called the report “malicious propaganda” and clarified that Pakistan greatly values its relations with Saudi Arabia.
“FATF will announce its assessment of Pakistan’s progress on the Action Plan and the future course of action after the conclusion of its Plenary Meeting,” it added.
A plenary of the FATF started its three-day deliberations in Paris and will take up Pakistan’s case on the last day of the meeting tomorrow (Friday). The plenary will decide Pakistan’s fate whether to keep the country on the grey list for another extended period or to remove it. Pakistan was placed on the grey list in June 2018.
As per details, the fake news trended on top on twitter as people questioned its authenticity. Most twitter handlers said that the news could not be true as the voting will be held on October 23 while some termed it a move to damage ties between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
This is in addition to Indian media nefariously mixing up narratives and concocting fake stories distorting the truth, using terminologies such as ‘civil-war’ which is nothing more than a sub-standard attempt at maligning Pakistan via blatant propaganda that Indian media is known for.
