ISLAMABAD – Pakistan faces the Financial Action Task Force FATF blacklistthreat over JuD Chief Hafiz Saeed.
Pakistan received 150 questions from the anti-terror financing watchdogFinancial Action Task Force (FATF) over the follow-up report submitted byIslamabad following the October review in Paris.
The review two months ago saw Pakistan fulfill five of the 27 suggestionsby the FATF over the preceding 15 months.
The recent 150 questions seek clarifications from Islamabad over theachievements cited in the report and the plan of action heading into 2020and beyond.
Government officials confirm that Islamabad is seeking further extensiononce the FATF meets for a review in Beijing next month, as Pakistan hopesto stay in the grey-list and avoid the dreaded sanction-loaded black-list.
In this regard, efforts were once again made to address activities of onegroup that has been cited in every single FATF meeting: the Jamaat-ud-Dawa(JuD).
On December 11, a Lahore-based Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) indicted JuDChief Hafiz Saeed in a terror-financing case, after Saeed had already beenbooked for similar offences in July.
On December 18, following a case filed by Gujranwala’s Counter-TerrorismDepartment (CTD), Saeed and his close aide Zafar Iqbal were indicted inanother terror funding case.
Read Top Stories
Following the latest hearing this week, the case has been adjourned by theATC till the next hearing on January 2. On January 8, Islamabad will fileits responses to the FATF questionnaire, before the scheduled meeting inBeijing on January 21-24.
This is not the first time Islamabad has looked to enhance its sanctions,and take increased law-enforcement actions, against Hafiz Saeed just beforean FATF review.
On February 12, 2018, an ordinance passed by then President Mamnoon Hussainamending the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 sanctioned a nationwide ban on Saeed’sgroups, days before the FATF meeting in Paris the same month.
The decision to relegate Pakistan to the FATF grey-list was taken in thatmeeting.
Pakistan was formally placed on the grey-list in June 2018, with Islamabadbeing repeatedly warned of potential blacklisting, given continued inactionover the funding of proscribed terror groups, with Jamaat-ud-Dawa beingfrequently cited.
During the October review, Pakistan was given an “unsatisfactory” rating on22 of the 27 mutually agreed points by the FATF.
