Financial Action Task Force puts Pakistan on grey list

By Ramananda Sengupta

Sources said despite Pakistan's desperate attempts to avert or at least delay the listing, the financial watchdog believed that Pakistan had failed to curb terror financing on its soil. In a major political and economic blow, Pakistan was placed on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) late on Wednesday after a plenary meeting in Paris, according to diplomatic sources. The FATF however, is yet to make a formal announcement.

Sources said despite Pakistan's desperate attempts to avert or at least delay the listing, the financial watchdog believed that Pakistan had failed to curb terror financing on its soil.

In February, after a US proposal endorsed by Britain, France and Germany, to nominate Pakistan as a country having “strategic deficiencies” in “countering financing of terrorism,” the 37-nation Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global body that combats terrorist financing and money laundering, had placed Pakistan on a watchlist of countries where terrorist outfits are still allowed to raise funds. Islamabad was given till June to get its act together and submit a report explaining why it should not be placed on the grey list.

The proposal was initially opposed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and China, but China later withdrew its opposition, saying it did not want to “lose face by supporting a move that’s doomed to fail,” the Dawn quoted official sources as saying.

“Assuming the listing is true, it is hardly surprising,” said a senior Indian official. “What is surprising is that Pakistan was not moved to the black list, of Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories, given that its so-called actions against terror financing are pure hogwash,” he said. “Just the other day, the government removed a ban on the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, earlier known as Sipah-e-Sahaba, a proscribed extremist group, and unfroze the accounts assets of its leader Ahmed Ludhianvi. Which means he can legally continue to raise funds for his outfit, which has close ties with the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. ”

“If indeed Pakistan is sincerely trying to curb terrorist financing as it claims, then who is financing the terrorists that operate in Afghanistan, and the LeT and other assorted scum that are openly targeting India?” asked another official.

If Pakistan is officially put on the grey list, it will impact it’s economy badly, and that too at a time when the nation is gearing up for the elections slated for July 25. Even before the FATF meeting, international credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded Pakistan’s rating from stable to negative June 20, citing “heightened external vulnerability risks.”

http://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2018/jun/28/financial-action-task-force-puts-pakistan-on-grey-list-1835126.html