Pakistan Put on Terror Financing Watchlist by Financial Action Task Force
Established in 1989, the FATF sets standards and promotes effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing among others.
Paris, February 23: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global body that combats terrorist financing and money laundering on Friday has taken decision to put Pakistan on the grey list for terror financing. Established in 1989 by the ministers of its member jurisdictions, the FATF is an inter-governmental body which sets standards and promotes effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
As per reports by The Hindu, Pakistan claimed victory in the ongoing FATF meeting in Paris earlier this week, as a preliminary discussion in International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG) failed to build a consensus on putting it again on the watch list. On Thursday, China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey which are close allies of Pakistan have joined hands to block a move by the Trump administration to place Islamabad on an international terror-financing watch list, PTI reported. Meanwhile, the motion, brought forth by the United States, was supported by countries like UK, France, and India.
The United States said Pakistan is not taking action against terror groups like the Haqqani network and the Taliban. Islamabad has denied those allegations. It must be noted that China has almost all times blocked efforts by India, the US and the UK to designate JeM chief Masood Azhar a terrorist under the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee. Meanwhile, Pakistan on Thursday claimed it had foiled US-led efforts to place it on a terror financing watch-list after the country was granted a three-month reprieve by the Paris-based international watchdog FATF, a report by PTI said.
While Pakistan has claimed a victory of sorts, reports by PTI said that the US was working behind the scenes during the ongoing meeting of FATF so as to take action against the country which it believes has not acted against terrorist financing and the implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 23, 2018 02:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).