New Delhi: Pakistan will remain on the “grey list” of the global terror financing watchdog till February next year as the country failed to complete the requirements ought for liberated access to international funds. Pakistan, which has not met six of the 27 points it had to satisfy, “needs to do more”, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said. It said an on-site visit by the FATF would only be done once Islamabad completes all conditions and only then Pakistan will have the curbs removed.
“Pakistan has completed 21 out of 27 items. It means that the world has become safer but six flaws need to be repaired. We give them a chance to restore their progress and if not then a country will be pushed to the blacklist,” the FATF said. Indian government sources had told earlier that it expects Pakistan to stay on the grey list with the country demonstrably failing to function against organizations that act as fronts for terrorist outfits and some of the world’s most wanted terrorists like Maulana Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed.
Pakistan had also failed to actually crack down on means of financing terror activities and money laundering and four nominating countries USA, UK, France, and Germany were not fully satisfied with its role in Afghanistan, sources had said. With Pakistan remaining in the grey list, it has become increasingly difficult for it to get financial aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the European Union, exacerbating problems for the cash-strapped country.
The decision was taken at the end of the three-day virtual plenary of the FATF that was earlier planned in June. Pakistan got an unpredictable pause after the global watchdog against financial crimes temporarily delayed all evaluations and follow-up deadlines in the path of the COVID-19 pandemic. The watchdog also put a general interlude in the assessment process, thus giving additional four months to Pakistan to meet the conditions.
Pakistan has required the support of three countries and it has been always backed by China, Turkey, and Malaysia to dodge the label to avoid the blacklist. Currently, North Korea and Iran are on the FATF blacklist. Pakistan needs 12 votes out of 39 to exit the grey list and move to the white list. Pakistan was put on the grey list by the FATF in June 2018 and was given a plan of action to complete it by October 2019. Since then, the country continues to be on that list due to its negligence to comply with the FATF mandates.
The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing,, and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system. The FATF currently has 39 members including two regional organizations – the European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council. India is a member of the FATF consultations and its Asia Pacific Group.
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