Pakistan has been asked by FATF to curb terrorism with verifiable actions by October 2019
During a Plenary meet in Orlando, Florida, the Paris based global body, Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has said that Pakistan has failed to deliver on its action plan with regards to curbing terrorism, cropping from within its territory.
The FATF has also said that Pakistan must comply with measurable and verifiable actions to meet its commitment by October 2019 or face the action, which could mean getting blacklisted. It has also asked Pakistan to reassess the existence and operations of banned terror outfits, operating out of Pakistan.
Pakistan was put on the grey list in June 2018. Usually, the countries who have weak domestic laws and find it difficult to tackle money laundering and terror financing, are put on the grey list.
A statement from FATF read, “That not only did Pakistan fail to complete its action plan items with January deadlines, it also failed to complete its action plan items due May 2019.”
Talking about Pakistan failing to deliver its commitment, FATF said, “Otherwise, the FATF will decide the next step at that time for insufficient progress.”
In the meantime, FATF observed that Pakistan has taken some measures for improving its Anti-Money Laundering / Combating Financial Terrorism (AML / CFT) regime. FATF also wants Pakistan to demonstrate that competent authorities are cooperating and taking actions to identify and take enforcement action against illegal Money or Value Transfer Services (MVTS). Pakistan has also assured FATF that it will take all the required measures and will ensure it comes out of grey list within the given timelines.
The Ministry of Finance, Pakistan, said in a media statement, “The Government of Pakistan reiterates its commitment to take all necessary measures to ensure completion of the Action Plan in a timely manner.”
It is to be noted that Pakistan was saved from getting blacklisted in the recently held Plenary meeting of FATF, as it was able to garner the support of Turkey, China and Malaysia. The move to blacklist Pakistan was strongly advocated by India, United States (U.S.) and United Kingdom (U.K.).
India came down heavily on Pakistan after the Pakistan based terror group, Jaish-E- Mohammad (JeM) carried out a heinous terror attack in Pulwama in February 2019, killing more than 40 Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) personnel. In response, India carried out a surgical strike in Balakot, eliminating more than 250 terrorists and uprooting the terror group’s camps.
After the recently concluded Plenary meeting, India has also asked Pakistan to ensure it takes effective measures to ensure that terror promoting groups and terror financing activities are put to an end.
In response to a media query on the FATF report, the Spokesperson for Ministry of External Affairs – Raveesh Kumar said, “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.
