India reminds Pakistan it must act soon on curbing terror financing

Global body FATF on Friday warned Pakistan it could face blacklisting in October

Reminding Pakistan that it had less than three months to show progress on curbing terror financing, India said it expected the Pakistani government to fully comply with the action plan set out by global body Financial Action Task Force (FATF) by September this year.

On Friday, the FATF plenary session in Orlando, U.S., issued a stern statement at the end of its outcome document, telling Pakistan that it could face a blacklisting (next step) in its next session in October, if it did not follow a 27-point checklist on bringing stricter laws to curb the access of funds to terror groups inside the country, including IS, al-Qaeda, Lashar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. The FATF put off the blacklist during the current session, but stressed that Pakistan had missed two action plan deadlines already.

Reacting to the statement, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said on Saturday that India expected Pakistan “to take all necessary steps to effectively implement the FATF Action Plan fully within the remaining time frame, that is, by September 2019, in accordance with its political commitment to the FATF and take credible, verifiable, irreversible and sustainable measures to address global concerns related to terrorism and terrorist financing emanating from any territory under its control.”

India was not a sponsor of the original move to put Pakistan on a compliance ‘greylist’ last June, but has consistently supported the U.S., U.K., Germany and France in efforts to make Pakistan accountable for its actions on terror groups. Pakistan was put on the greylist in 2018, the second time it has been on the list since 2012-2015.

Meanwhile, Pakistan pointed out that the FATF had acknowledged some steps had been taken by Pakistan’s government. In the past few months, the Imran Khan government had changed laws and shut down several outfits run by the terror groups mentioned.

Pakistan has also in the past accused India of “politicising” the proceedings at the FATF, a charge India has denied. However, the government hopes for a clean chit from the FATF in order to stave off its current economic crisis, where it is in the process of accepting a loan from the International Monetary Fund and is widely expected to show more action shortly.

“The Government of Pakistan reiterates its commitment to take all necessary measures to ensure completion of the Action Plan in a timely manner,” a statement issued by the Pakistani Finance Ministry on Saturday said.

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