T ISLAMABAD - FATF rejects Indian bid to blacklist Pakistan over terror financing. The Financial Task Force (FATF) has recognized Pakistan’s efforts in curbing money laundering and terror financing.
FATF said on Friday that Pakistan had taken laudable steps towards countering financing of terrorism (CFT) and anti-money laundering (AML) regime. It vowed to work in collaboration with Pakistan to curb such activities in the future.
Pakistan is currently taking legal and strategic steps to get off the FATF’s greylist and improve its trade and foreign investment.
The recent FATF meeting brought another success for Pakistan on the diplomatic front as the financial watchdog turned down India’s efforts to place Pakistan on the blacklist for ‘harbouring and patronizing terrorism.’
The international body accepted that since mid-2018, Pakistan had taken steps to improve its AML and CFT regime and has operationalized the integrated database for its currency declaration.
FATF noted that Pakistan has revised its terror financing (TF) risk assessment but “did not demonstrate a proper understanding of the TF risks posed by Da’esh, al Qaeda, Jamat-ut-Dawa (JuD), Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FiF), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Haqqani Network and persons affiliated with the Taliban.”
Note that the government banned JuD and FiF on Thursday during a high-level National Security Committee (NSC) meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair.
The global watchdog, however, urged Pakistan to show sanctions being applied on money laundering and terrorism financing.
“Given the limited progress on action plan items due in January 2019, the FATF urges Pakistan to swiftly complete its action plan, particularly those with timelines of May 2019,” it concluded.