Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has admitted that it had ensured Pakistan remained on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list while Pakistan has started considering approaching the President of the FATF after India admits to global politics on money laundering and terrorist financing.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had reiterated that India wanted to use the FATF forum for “political purposes” but should not be allowed to do so. India used manipulation as a key at a forum for narrow political design against Pakistan, but it is not surprising for the Modi government as the recent statement has exposed India’s notoriety.
Pakistan’s foreign office says that Pakistan has always raised the issue to the international community that India is using the FATF politically uses the FATF undermine its efforts to achieve the task force’s real goals. The recent Indian statement is part of a biased effort while the country does not shy away from using an important technical forum against Pakistan to further its narrow-minded political ambitions.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is a global body set up between governments to protect the global financial system from terrorists and money laundering. Initially, the organization was set up to monitor financial matters, but after the attacks on the World Trade Center, it added terrorist financing and continued to monitor any country. Pakistan has been included in this list from 2009 to 2015 and has been suffering losses.
During this time, Pakistan’s finances and access to credit became extremely difficult for the country. In 2015, the FATF announced that Pakistan is one of the seven countries. Following the FATF directive, those who took commendable steps to curb terrorist financing from 2010 to 2015, including Pakistan, were removed from the FATF list. Their financial transactions were no longer be monitored, but unfortunately in June 2018, the FATF put Pakistan back on its grey list.
Last year, Pakistan fully complied with 14 out of 27 demands to exist from the FATF, but the task force did not remove Pakistan from the grey list, after which more steps were demanded from the country and now Pakistan has fulfilled 26 out of 27 demands to get out of the grey list of FATF but still Pakistan has not been removed from the grey list.
Pakistan has taken real steps to get out of the grey list, cracking down on banned organizations as well as imprisoning religious and extremist leaders to getting its name off from the grey list. However, in the recent Paris meeting, Pakistan was once again left on the grey list, while after the confession of Indian Foreign Minister SJ Shankar, it has become clear that there is no real excuse for keeping Pakistan on the grey list but global political motives.
Pakistan has repeatedly stated that India is trying to destabilize the country by using its influence in the FATF and now after India’s confession, Pakistan’s position has been proven accurate. What is needed now is for Pakistan to approach the statement of the Indian Foreign Minister in all relevant forums and expose India’s conspiracies.
