ISLAMABAD – After failing to put Pakistan on The Financial Action TaskForce counter terrorism watch list over money laundering and terrorfinancing now US has acknowledged that Pakistan is taking measures to curbterrorism financing.
Earlier US has put Pakistan on notice in the international body over terrorfinancing and seeked to tighten the screw against Pakistan inline with TheTrump’s South Asia policy.
The United States acknowledges that Pakistan has “begun” taking action toaddress money laundering and terror financing, the American embassy heresaid Thursday, The Nation hs reported.
US Embassy Spokesperson Richard Snelsire however, said the internationalcommunity had consistently expressed its long-standing concerns aboutongoing deficiencies in Pakistan’s implementation of its anti-moneylaundering and counter-terrorism finance regime.
“These concerns remain, even aspakistanlink> hasrecently begun to take action to address these deficiencies,” he said. TheUnited States, he said, encouraged pakistanlink> to continue efforts to meet itsinternational obligations on countering the financing of terrorism. “Welook forward to additional information on how pakistanlink> is meeting these obligations,”Snelsire said.
This week, Russia and China among other friends averted an embarrassmentfor pakistan link> at the Financial ActionTask Force moot in Paris as Islamabad got three months reprieve.
When the FATF meeting started on February 18, no country – except China -had committed to supportpakistan link> againstthe United States-sponsored resolution seeking to place pakistanlink> on the terror watch list. The FATF isa global body that combats terrorist financing and money laundering.
Russia had promised to consider Pakistan’s request to speak in favour ofIslamabad at the FATF meeting but only took the practical step afterForeign Minister Khawaja Mohammed Asif visited Moscow. The cold-war rivalsand emerging allies pledged to form a new partnership and agreed to enhancecooperation in all sectors.
The 37 permanent members of FATF include: Argentina, Australia, Austria,Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, European Commission, Finland,France, Germany, Greece, Gulf Co-operation Council, Hong Kong, Iceland,India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Malaysia,Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russian Federation,Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdomand the US. Israel and Saudi Arabia have observer status.
Foreign Minister Khawaja Mohammed Asif thanked the ‘friends’ who helpedpakistan link> at the FATF meeting. Asifalso tweeted that he had “very fruitful meeting” with Russian ForeignMinister Federation Sergey Lavrov.
He said there was “consensus” on regional and international issuesparticularly Afghanistan. “Need for close cooperation on counter terrorismand eliminating drug trafficking, better trade and defence relationsdiscussed,” he added, announcing the new alliance.
Richard Snelsire said discussions and deliberations over whether countrieshad fulfilled commitments to implement terrorist financing sanctions were acentral focus of meetings of the intergovernmental FATF. “Discussions areconfidential until FATF Plenary decisions are made public,” he remarked.
A senior official at the pakistan link>foreignministry said pakistan link> was trying todefuse tension with the US. “The three-month reprieve will give us time toimprove the situation. We will hold talks with the US and also present ourevidence (on our role against money laundering and terror financing),” hetold The Nation.
The official said the US seemed to be ‘misguided’ by India and with thediplomatic efforts, pakistan link> wasoptimistic to revive trust level with the US.