Paris: – With only two days to go for the meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), troubles seem to be increasing for Pakistan. There is a possibility of Pakistan remaining in the Grey List of FATF for delaying action against Moulana Masood Azhar and Hafeez Saeed and names of 4,000 terrorists going missing from the official list of terrorists. An official connected with the matter gave this information.
The decisive meeting of FATF will be held between 21st and 23rd October. During the meeting, the Pakistani actions to stop money laundering and terror funding will be reviewed. The final decision whether Pakistan remains in the Grey List or is included in the Black List, cornering Pakistan on the economic front, will be taken during this meeting. This will be decided after assessing the Pakistani performance in the action plans regarding the 27 criteria prescribed by the FATF. But it is being said that the result is out, even before the meeting.
Pakistan has worked on hardly 21 criteria out of the 27 prescribed by FATF. Pakistan has miserably failed on the other six counts. The official claimed that these were the most important actions and Pakistan has dug its own grave by not acting on them. Pakistan has not taken action against any of the terrorist leaders featuring in the Most Wanted list. The official said that Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Moulana Masood Azhar and Lashkar-e-Taiba chiefs Hafeez Saeed and Saki-Ur-Rehman have been awarded pardon from the counter-terrorism actions.
Pakistan government and military have also been accused of manipulating the list of terrorists given by the FATF. FATF had given a list of 7,600 terrorists to Pakistan. But 4,000 names out of these, have disappeared, hours before the scheduled start of the meeting in France. It is being accused that Pakistan has deleted these 4,000 names, to save itself from the FATF action.
At the same time, the official reminded that the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, the leading countries, are not happy with the Pakistani commitment to the counter-terrorism actions. These four countries may come forward demanding the FATF action against Pakistan, saying that Pakistan government and military have failed to take action against terrorists in their own country. This has made Pakistan further restless and the journalists and analysts from that country have started blaming Prime Minister Imran and the Pakistan military.
FATF included Pakistan in the Grey List in 2018. Since then, Pakistan was expected to work on the plan of action, regarding the criteria prescribed by the FATF. But Pakistan has shown complete disinterest in initiating any actions in this respect and instead the Pakistani leaders have accepted, on various international platforms, that there are terrorists in their country and also have declared Al Qaeda chief, Osama Bin Laden as a martyr. India has slammed Pakistan on international platforms exposing its policies supporting terrorism.
Related posts:
US is humiliating Pakistan, alleges Advisor to Pakistan PM, Miftah Ismail
Rising discontent in Pakistan against CPEC, reports International Crisis Group
Pakistan to be blacklisted because of India
FATF issues one more warning to Pakistan, will ‘Black List’ it if no satisfactory answers are received
FATF issues stern warning to Pakistan over terror activities; China too lambasts Pakistan
Pakistan to remain in the grey list of FATF
Pakistan action against terrorists fearing inclusion in FATF blacklist a facade
