ISLAMABAD – Pakistan conveyed its gratitude to Turkey for continuing tosupport Islamabad against all odds in the FATF,” the source said.
During initial discussions at the Paris plenary of the FATF on February 20,China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, which was representing the Gulf CooperationCouncil (GCC) as it is not yet a full member, opposed the move to placePakistan on the watchlist.
But the US pushed for an unprecedented second vote on Pakistan, which washeld on February 22 by which them Washington had convinced Riyadh to giveup its support to Islamabad in return for a full FATF membership.
This left only two countries – China and Turkey – in the Pakistan camp, oneless than the required number of three members to stall a move. The Dawnreported that the Chinese also informed Pakistan that they were opting out.
The paper reported that on Friday, the group issued an updated grey list,along with a statement announcing the decisions taken at the plenarysession, and Pakistan was not on the list. Officials in Islamabadinterpreted this as a “breather”, although it’s more of a technical detail.
The grey list identifies the “jurisdictions with strategic anti-moneylaundering/countering the financing of terrorism deficiencies for whichthey have developed an action plan with the FATF”. Pakistan has not yetworked out the proposed plan with the FATF and that’s why it’s not on thelist.
Between now and June, Pakistan will have to work out details of theevaluation process with the FATF and a failure to do so could triggeranother process, which may push Pakistan on the black list of wilfulviolators, the paper quoted officials as saying.
“The move was against the understanding given to Pakistan that Islamabadwill be asked to work with the FATF on an action plan, before the listingprocess starts,” an official source told Dawn. After the Feb 20 meeting,Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif sent out a celebratory tweet, saying thatPakistan had won a three-month reprieve.
Hours after the tweet, US state department spokesperson Heather Nauertindicated at a news briefing in Washington that Islamabad’s celebrationswere premature. She said the Paris plenary was not over yet and it wouldhold another meeting on Pakistan on Feb 22, as it did.
She also mentioned Hafiz Saeed and his activities while detailing UScomplaints against Pakistan and the sources that spoke to Dawn after theFeb 22 meeting said that indeed Saeed and his “charities” were top on thelist of the groups that the FATF wanted Pakistan to act against.
Pakistan did make some laws before the Paris meeting that would allow it toact against these groups but apparently that was not enough to convince theFATF.
Pakistan was first put on the FATF’s grey list in 2012 but was removed in2015, after the FATF certified that the country had done enough to counterterror financing.