WASHINGTON: Despite high-level diplomacy, hiring a major lobbying firm and offering its influence with the Taliban to the United States to reduce violence in Afghanistan, Pakistan will not be able to escape the gray list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), said Mariam Solaimankhail, member of Afghanistan parliament.
The FATF, the global watchdog on money laundering and terrorist financing, is holding its plenary session starting on October 21, where it will decide the fate of Pakistan. The country has been on the gray list since 2018.
In an opinion piece in the American magazine ‘The Diplomat’, Solaimankhail writes: “Despite high-level diplomacy and hiring a major lobbying firm and offering its influence with the Taliban to the United States for the violence in Afghanistan, Pakistan will not be able to escape the gray list this time, but that is simply not enough.
Earlier this month, the FATF Asia Pacific Group (APG) in Money laundering has kept Pakistan on the “Enhanced Watch List” for its slow progress on the FATF technical recommendations to combat terrorist financing. Pakistan’s progress has remained unchanged: it fails in four respects.
According to FATF rules, Islamabad must meet at least 13 of the 27 parameters set by the watchdog to get off the “gray list.”
While he may have obtained all three votes: China, Turkey and Malaysia – needed to escape the blacklist, it would also need the approval of 12 of the 39 members of the FATF to get off the “gray list”, which has not been able to reach until now, Solaimankhail said.
There is little doubt that the FATF is “unhappy with Pakistan’s performance,” say diplomatic sources monitoring the issue.
The assessment is that Pakistan is willing to somehow maintain its position on the gray list and not be dragged into the black list that brings serious economic repercussions.
Beyond stepping up his lobbying efforts, the Afghan lawmaker said Pakistan has also been careful not to upset the United States in the midst of a toxic election campaign. Pakistan’s Supreme Court has extended custody of a suspect in the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl for three months, accepting an appeal from Pearl’s parents for justice, despite the suspect’s acquittal by a lower court.
In addition to weighing India’s complaints along with allaying American concerns, the FATF will have to take into account Pakistan’s performance in enacting legislation aimed at curbing the flow of money into terrorism. The part not mentioned here is that the actual application of these laws should also be monitored, he said.
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