The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in a statement on Friday said Pakistan has until October to improve its counter-terror financing operations in line with an internationally agreed action plan or face actions against it.
The global watchdog said it was concerned that Pakistan failed to complete the action plan first by a January deadline and then again by a May deadline.
The FATF, in a statement after a meeting in Orlando, Florida, urged Pakistan to “swiftly complete its action plan by October 2019 when the last set of action plan items are set to expire.” “Otherwise, the FATF will decide the next step at that time for insufficient progress,” it said.
Islamabad has been on the global money laundering watchdog’s radar since June 2018, when it was placed on a grey list for terror financing and money laundering risks after an assessment of the country’s financial system and security mechanism.
Turkey was the only country that opposed the move backed by the United States, the United Kingdom and India. However, Islamabad’s longtime ally, Beijing, had abstained.
Moving one step further, New Delhi – co-chair of the joint group of FATF and Asia Pacific Group – wants Islamabad to be placed on the Paris-based watchdog’s blacklist of the countries, which fail to meet international standards in combating financial crimes.
Islamabad, at a meeting in Guangzhou, China last month, was reportedly asked to ‘do more’ as its compliance on 18 of the 27 indicators – pointed out in the action plan – was deemed unsatisfactory.
Pakistan, in recent months, has taken some major steps in accordance with the action plan, which includes no foreign currency transactions without a national tax number, and a ban on currency change of up to $500 in the open currency market without submission of a national identity card copy. In addition to that, Islamabad has also proscribed several militant groups and seized their assets, including Jamat-ud-Dawa, and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) – the groups blamed for several terrorist attacks such as the 2009 deadly Mumbai attacks killing over 150 people.
