Global terror watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Thursday announced that Pakistan will continue to remain on its grey list due to failure to comply with all the points of a plan of action set by it to combat terror financing.
The FATF said that there had been serious deficiency on the part of Pakistan in checking terror financing.
The Paris-based FATF had placed Pakistan on the grey list in June 2018 and asked Islamabad to implement a plan of action to curb money laundering and terror financing by the end of 2019 but the deadline was extended later on due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Holding a plenary meeting on Thursday, FATF president Marcus Pleyer said, “Pakistan will remain under increased monitoring as serious deficiencies remain related to terror financing. While Pakistan has taken important steps, there are three important points from 27 action points remaining to be acted upon.”
Pleyer added that the deadline given to Pakistan has already expired and asked Islamabad to address their concerns “as quickly as possible”.
“There is a serious deficiency on the part of Pakistan in checking terror financing and the country is yet to demonstrate taking action against UN-designated terrorists and their associates,” he said.
The FATF said that Pakistan courts must give effective, decisive and proportionate punishment to those involved in terrorism, a statement which comes close on the heels of Pakistan Supreme Court's acquittal of terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh, the main accused in the 2002 murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl.
The terror financing watchdog said that Pakistan must complete three unfulfilled tasks and once it is completed, the FATF will verify and take a decision on its present status in the next plenary to be held in June.
According to reports, 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 reportedly supporting France.
France was not happy with the recent response of Islamabad to the protest against cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
With Pakistan's continuation in the ‘grey' list, it is increasingly becoming difficult for Islamabad to get financial aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Union, thus further enhancing problems for the debt-ridden nation which is in a precarious financial situation.
