In a major setback for Pakistan days ahead of the plenary of Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Islamabad has been told that it has failed to meet certain important criteria to crack down on terror financing and money laundering.
In its Mutual Evaluation Report released Sunday, the Asia Pacific Group (APG), a sub-panel of the FATF, has said that Islamabad hasn’t fully implemented its UNSCR 1267 obligations against 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and his terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa.
Despite being sanctioned under the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee, terror outfit Jamaat-ud-Dawa got a breather by the Lahore High Court that prevented Pakistani authorities from interfering in the affairs of these outfits that are seen as “charitable institutions”, the APG report said.
A top source told ThePrint that the latest FATF move “has definitely made Pakistan’s case weaker” before the plenary. “Now very less time is left for them to take appropriate actions.”
The FATF plenary is going to take place between 13 and 18 October. During the meet, a final call will be taken on whether to put Pakistan in the ‘black list’ or not. A downgrade would threaten the fiscal situation of Pakistan.
The plenary, which is the highest decision-making body of the FATF, will take the APG report into account as one of the bases for evaluation.
‘Not sufficient measures’
In its report, the APG said, “With the exception of some recent actions discussed in detail below, Pakistan has not taken sufficient measures to fully implement UNSCR 1267 obligations against all listed individuals and entities — especially those associated with Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT)/Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) as well as the groups’ leader Hafiz Saeed.”
In August, the APG had put Pakistan in the terror ‘black list’ for its failure to curb channelising of funds to terrorist organisations.
At the time, the sub-group had put Pakistan in an ‘Enhanced Expedited Follow Up List’ as it was non-compliant on 32 of 40 parameters related to terror financing and money laundering.
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