FATF set to decide Pakistan's fate in money laundering and terror financing

Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global terrorism watchdog is likely to continue to keep its eyes on Pakistan as it is unlikely to take it out of the 'grey list', said a news report. FATF keeps global money laundering and terrorism financing under check. FATF placed Pakistan on 'grey list' in June 2018 and asked it to implement a plan of action to curb money laundering and terror financing by the end of 2019.

FATF 's virtual plenary meeting is set to begin today (February 22). It will go on till February 25. A decision is likely to be taken on the fate of Pakistan in this meeting.

In the last plenary held in October 2020, the FATF concluded that Pakistan will continue in its 'grey list' till February 2021 as it has failed to fulfil six out of 27 obligations of the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog that include failure to take action against two of India's most wanted terrorists Jaish-e Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar and Jamaat-ud-Dawah head Hafiz Saeed.

Azhar and Saeed are most wanted terrorists in India for their involvement in numerous terrorist acts, including 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and bombing of a CRPF bus at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir last year.

Pakistani news outlet Dawn quoted an official source who claimed that Pakistan had complied with the remaining six recommendations and has submitted relevant details to FATF secretariat.

The paper, quoting a journalist covering the FATF said that some European countries, especially the host France, had recommended to the FATF to continue to keep Pakistan on the grey list and had taken the position that not all points had been fully implemented by Islamabad.

Other European countries are also supporting France, he said.

France was not happy with the recent response of Islamabad on the cartoon issue, he said.

Pakistan has not even posted a regular ambassador in Paris, he said, adding that diplomatic and economic relations between the two countries were not up to the mark.

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The US has also expressed concern over the acquittal the accused in American journalist Daniel Pearl's kidnapping and murder case.

It is feared that the US may also lobby for continuation of Islamabad on the grey list at least until June this year.

Pakistan's Supreme Court last month ordered release of British-born al-Qaeda terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and his three aides in the 2002 Pearl murder case, a judgement denounced by the American journalist's family as "a complete travesty of justice." There was a major global uproar against the court decision.

(With PTI inputs)