Bilawal Bhutto hopes Pakistan will get off FATF grey list, says “we want to tackle terrorism”

Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has expressed hope of his country getting off the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.

Speaking to ANI, Bilawal Bhutto who is in Samarkand to connection with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, said that Pakistan wants to fight terrorism and extremism and this is a priority not due to FATF listing or the international community but for the people of his country.

“We hope that Pakistan will get off the FATF list. We want to tackle terrorism. It is our priority not because of FATF but for the people of Pakistan and also our own resolve,” Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told ANI.

Pakistan has been on (Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list since 2018. Pakistan’s record on the flow of funds into terrorist activities has been under sustained scrutiny by FATF. Media reports said that Pakistan had sent a letter to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan days ahead of an inspection by the monitors from FATF seeking the arrest of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar Alvi.The FATF-Asia Pacific Group delegation visited Pakistan from August 29 to September 2 to verify the country’s compliance with a 34-point action plan committed with FATF at the highest level.

Uzbekistan is the current chair of SCO 2022 whereas India will be the next chair of the SCO.

This is the first in-person SCO Summit after the Covid pandemic hit the world. The last in-person SCO Heads of State Summit was held in Bishkek in June 2019.

The SCO currently comprises eight Member States (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), four Observer States interested in acceding to full membership (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia) and six “Dialogue Partners” (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey).

The Shanghai Five, formed in 1996, became the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in 2001 with the inclusion of Uzbekistan. With India and Pakistan entering the grouping in 2017 and the decision to admit Tehran as a full member in 2021, SCO became one of the largest multilateral organisations, accounting for nearly 30 per cent of the global GDP and 40 per cent of the world’s population.

https://theprint.in/world/bilawal-bhutto-hopes-pakistan-will-get-off-fatf-grey-list-says-we-want-to-tackle-terrorism/1131351/