India on Saturday reminded Pakistan of what it must do to avoid being cast away to Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) black list. Modi government’s reminder to Pakistan PM Imran Khan can be considered timely as Islamabad was warned of the possibility by FATF – the Paris-based global body working to curb terror financing- as recently as Friday.
Highlighting Pakistan’s continued failure to complete the anti-terror measures listed in FATF’s action plan items, the Ministry of External Affairs reminded Islamabad that global concerns related to terrorism and terrorist financing emanating from its soil must be addressed before FATF’s September 2019 deadline.
“We expect Pakistan to take all necessary steps to effectively implement the FATF Action Plan fully within the remaining time frame i.e. by September 2019 in accordance with its political commitment to the FATF and take credible, verifiable, irreversible and sustainable measures to address global concerns related to terrorism and terrorist financing emanating from any territory under its control,” said Ravish Kumar, the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs.
FATF, the Paris-based global body, is working to curb terrorism financing and money laundering and has expressed disappointment with Pakistan’s failure to implement a 27-point action plan to curb terror financing and money laundering in order to effectively disable banned terrorist outfits, LeT, JeM, in the country.
Pakistan is currently on FATF’s ‘Grey list’ of countries whose domestic laws are considered weak to tackle the challenges of money laundering and terrorism financing but the global body indicated Friday that Pakistan’s continued failure on anti-terror front may lead to the FATF taking the ‘next step’- widely seen as relegation to the ‘Black list’ of nations.
In a statement issued at the conclusion of its plenary meeting in Orlando, Florida, the FATF expressed concern “that not only did Pakistan fail to complete its action plan items with January deadline; it also failed to complete its action plan items due May 2019”.
The FATF “strongly” urged Pakistan to swiftly complete its action plan when the last set of action plan items are set to expire.
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