NEW DELHI: Pakistan will remain on the gray list of Financial Action Group (FATF) as it has failed to meet the key obligations of the global watchdog.
The Paris-based watchdog to curb terror financing and money laundering decided to keep the country on its gray list during its 3-day virtual plenary session.
The FATF said it took note of the significant progress made on a number of action plan elements made by Pakistan.
“To date, Pakistan has made progress on all elements of the action plan and has now largely addressed 21 of the 27 action elements. As all the action plan timelines have expired, the FATF strongly urges Pakistan to to quickly complete its full action plan by February 2021. ” it said in a statement.
The FATF graylisted Pakistan in June 2018 and asked Islamabad to implement an action plan to curb money laundering and terrorist financing by the end of 2019, but the deadline was later extended due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier, a report had said that Pakistan failed to comply with six of the 27 points of the global watchdog’s action plan.
The report says Pakistan failed to take action against two of India’s most wanted terrorists – Maulana Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed. He added that the names of more than 4,000 terrorists had suddenly disappeared from his official list.
Seeking to get off the FATF gray list, Pakistan in debt in August imposed financial sanctions on 88 banned terrorist groups and their leaders, including the mastermind of the 11/26 Bombay attack and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz. Saeed, Jaish- The head of e-Mohammed (JeM) Masood Azhar and the underworld Don Dawood Ibrahim.
At its third virtual plenary held in June, the FATF decided to keep Pakistan on the gray list as Islamabad was unable to control the flow of money to terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) .
With Pakistan continuing on the ‘gray list’, it is increasingly difficult for the country to obtain financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Union, which it further exacerbates the problems for the financially precarious nation.
In July, the Pakistani Senate unanimously passed two bills related to the harsh conditions imposed by the FATF. In August, the lower house of Parliament passed four FATF-related bills as part of Pakistan’s efforts to move from the FATF gray list to the white list.
In September, the joint session of Parliament amended around 15 laws to improve its legal system and meet the international standards required by the FATF.
India had said on Thursday that Pakistan continues to provide safe havens to terrorist entities, as well as UN-designated terrorists, and should remain on the FATF gray list.
The FATF is an intergovernmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and other threats related to the integrity of the international financial system. It currently has 39 members, including two regional organizations: the European Commission and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
(With PTI inputs)
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