The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Thursday decided to retain Pakistan on the “greylist” till the next review of its performance on the recommendations during the June Plenary session.
At a press briefing, FATF president Marcus Pleyer said although Pakistan had made a significant progress, it was still to fully comply with three of the 27-point action plan it had been presented with in June 2018 when it was first put on the “greylist”. He urged Pakistan to make fast progress on the remaining obligations.
The three points on which the FATF has sought urgent action by Pakistan pertain to effective steps — in terms of financial sanctions and penalties — against the terror funding infrastructure and the entities involved. After assessing the measures taken during the June session, the FATF would verify the implementation and test the sustainability of reforms undertaken by Pakistan to this end.
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To a query as to when
During the October-2020 Plenary, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pakistan had been given an extension for full compliance till February this year. It had then not fully complied with six of the 27 directives.
The FATF assesses the strength of a country’s anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing frameworks and does not go by individual cases. However, the FATF chief said, the cases underscored the gravity of the situation. It also highlighted the need to have a strong system in place.
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In Pakistan's case, the international watch-dog has taken cognisance of the inaction against several banned organisations involved in raising funds for terror activities and those linked to global terrorists like Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar and Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Hafiz Saeed and its operations chief Zaki-Ur Rahman Lakhvi.
On several occasions, India has also raised the involvement of elements within Pakistan in a number of terror cases, including the 26/11 Mumbai and Pulwama attacks.