Pakistan in FATF 'grey list' for failing to curb terrorism
FATF is a Paris-based global body working to curb terrorism financing and money laundering.
New Delhi: Hours after the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) rapped Pakistan for not doing enough to curb terror funding and asked it to swiftly complete its action plan by October 2019 when the last set of action plan items are set to expire, India said it expects Islamabad to take “credible, verifiable, and irreversible measures” to address global concerns related to terrorism and terrorist financing emanating from its soil.
The international terror financing watchdog FATF has decided to keep Pakistan on its ‘Grey’ list for failure to curb funnelling of funds to terror groups like Lashakr-e-Tayyaba, Jaish-e-Muhammad and others, and has given a deadline to compile with its action plan during its Plenary Meeting held in Orlando (Florida) on Friday. Reacting to the development, spokesperson for ministry of external affairs Raveesh Kumar said: “The FATF has decided to continue to keep Pakistan on its compliance document (i.e. Grey List) for the ICRG monitoring for its failure to complete the action plan items due in January and May 2019. 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.”
FATF is a Paris-based global body working to curb terrorism financing and money laundering. It has asked Pakistan to reassess the operation of banned terrorist outfits in the country. The FATF had in June last year placed Pakistan on the Grey List of countries whose domestic laws are considered weak to tackle the challenges of money laundering and terrorism financing.
The FATF in a statement said that though Pakistan has taken steps towards improving its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combating of Financing of Terrorism (CFT) regime, including the recent development of its terror financing (TF) risk assessment “however, it does not demonstrate a proper understanding of Pakistan’s transnational TF risk.”