WHILST there was acknowledgement of the progress made by Pakistan to implement the FATF’s action plan, the country has been kept on the grey list for four more months. The FATF President Marcus Pleyer said Pakistan has signalled its commitment to complete action plan.
It was in June 2018 that Pakistan had been listed amongst the sixteen jurisdictions under increased monitoring due to strategic deficiencies in their anti- money laundering and combating financing of terrorism framework. Since then and especially the present government in Pakistan has taken both administrative and legislative measures to meet the twenty-one point action plan handed down by the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog. The bills recently passed by our Parliament against money laundering declaring it a cognizable offense is a clear manifestation of it. There is recognition that the country has made progress across all action plan items and has now largely addressed twenty-one of the action items. Given the seriousness and commitment shown by the present government, we are confident that the remaining points will also be complied within the timeline given by the FATF. Whilst we really appreciate the unwavering support provided by Turkey and China to foil the nefarious designs of India which wanted to push Pakistan into the blacklist, we now need to go for a complete diplomatic lobbying to secure the required support in next FATF meeting to get out of the grey list. Whilst there is no denying the fact that implementation of the action plan is in our own interest but the FATF needs to work independently and without any bias. It must also look into the conduct and posture of its other member countries such as India. Quite recently, a number of reports have emerged including from the United States indicating clearly New Delhi’s involvement in money laundering and terror financing. The international community especially the Muslim world is seeing whether the watchdog will hold the terrorist country accountable for its crimes or act as a silent spectator. With the support of our friends, we should continue to unmask the true face of India before the world.
