The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the multilateral body on terror financing, on Friday condemned the February 14 Pulwama terror attack and issued a stern statement to Pakistan, asking it to comply with an action plan on terror financing or face further action.
After a week-long plenary, the 37-member group decided not to remove Pakistan from the ‘grey list’, as Islamabad had lobbied for, but also didn’t accept India's demand to move Pakistan to the ‘black list’ yet. Further reviews of Pakistan’s compliance to the 15-month, 27-point action plan it was put on in June 2018 will be taken in coming June and October. If it is put on the ‘black list’, Pakistan’s economy, already laden with a debt crisis, would face a move that could see it face more financial strictures, ratings downgrades by international banking and credit rating agencies.
Pakistan was on the ‘grey list’ of countries of risk between 2012 and 2015 as well.
The FATF criticised Pakistan in particular for not demonstrating “a proper understanding” of the terror financing risks posed by “Da’esh [Islamic State], Al Qaeda, Jamaat ud Dawa, Falah-i-Insaniyat-Foundation, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Haqqani Network HQN, and persons affiliated with the Taliban.” It also told the Pakistani government to show that remedial actions and sanctions are applied as well as demonstrating that its authorities are taking action on “illegal money or value transfer services” to these groups, sources told The Hindu .
In a public statement that didn’t name any countries or groups, the president of the body called on all countries to choke the fund supply to terror groups.
“The FATF notes with grave concern and condemns the violent terrorist attack last week that killed at least 40 Indian security forces in Pulwama in the State of Jammu and Kashmir…While all these attacks kill, maim, and inspire fear, they cannot occur without money and the means to move funds between terrorist supporters,” he said.
