The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will begin a three-day virtual plenary meeting on Wednesday that will decide the next course of action against Pakistan regarding measures taken by the country to crack down on fundraising by terrorist groups.
The case of Pakistan
The multilateral watchdog, which counters money laundering and terrorist financing, included Pakistan in its list of “jurisdictions under increased surveillance” or “gray list” in 2018 for not doing enough to curb financial activities of the terrorist groups. The gray list now has 18 countries, from Iceland to Mauritius to Panama, and most of these countries have been cited for lax money laundering regimes and none face such serious charges related to terrorist financing as Pakistan.
After a plenary meeting in February, the FATF warned Pakistan that all of the timeframes set for implementing an action plan against terrorist financing had expired and that the country had largely addressed only 14 of the plan’s 27 action items. . According to a more recent assessment, Pakistan is understood to have largely addressed some 20 action items. However, the Asia-Pacific Group (APG), a regional affiliate of the FATF, concluded last month that Pakistan has fully complied with only two of 40 recommendations to curb money laundering and terrorist financing.
Abuse of non-profit organizations (NPOs) and registered charities by groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba was cited by APG in its latest report as a “significant threat”, and the group kept Pakistan in its “enhanced follow-up.” category.
Financing of terrorism
Fighting the financing of terrorism has been a priority for the FATF since 2001. The FATF plays a key role in global efforts to combat the financing of terrorism by setting global standards, helping countries implement the financial provisions of the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council on terrorism and assess its ability to prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute terrorist financing. The FATF conducts year-round assessments of countries on the gray list, although this work has been curtailed in 2020 by the Covid-19 pandemic. Much of his work in Pakistan has focused on getting the government to enact laws to enforce UN sanctions, improving coordination between different government organizations and law enforcement agencies, and prosecuting terrorists involved in the collection. Of funds.
Although Pakistan arrested LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and a handful of other terrorist leaders and successfully prosecuted several of them (Saeed received a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence in February), there have been other developments that have been criticized. by western nations. For example, Pakistani authorities have removed some 3,800 names from a terror watch list this year. Pakistan has also enacted some 10 new laws to freeze and confiscate the assets of terrorist groups and impose fines and prison terms for terrorist financing, but the FATF has said enforcement and prosecution need to be further improved.
Whats Next
Pakistan is expected to remain on the gray list, with very little chance of it being included in the FATF list of “high risk jurisdictions subject to a call to action” or “black list”, which currently only has two countries, North Korea. and Iran, for various reasons. Some Western countries are reluctant to push for tougher action against Pakistan at a time when it is perceived as crucial to the troubled peace process in Afghanistan, while the backing of just three of the 39 FATF members is enough to keep it out. from the blacklist. Pakistan has China in its corner and its leadership has reached out to Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey for support. What remains to be seen is how much room for maneuver the FATF will give Pakistan to comply with the action plan against terrorist financing.
.
