India asks Pak to comply with FATF report

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 22

India has said it expected Pakistan to take all required steps to implement a global action plan against terrorist financing and money laundering in which it has been found deficient for yet another time.

India believes the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan is sustained by under-the-radar funds and has been playing an active role in getting the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to issue strictures for its shortcomings.

India also asked Pakistan to take “credible, verifiable, irreversible and sustainable measures” to address global concerns related to terrorism and terrorist financing emanating from the territory under its control.

The FATF has asked 11 countries, including Pakistan, to improve compliance with global norms for transmitting money. Only two countries, North Korea and Iran, rank higher in the order of notoriety.

Pakistan has been bracketed with nearly a dozen countries, but FATF’s observations about it are the most strident.

In February, the FATF had merely “urged” Pakistan to “swiftly complete” its action plan. This time, it “strongly urged” Pakistan to “swiftly complete” its action plan before the next plenary in October. It then laced the displeasure by warning that “otherwise, the FATF will decide the next step at that time for insufficient progress”.

At the last meeting of the FATF’s Asia Pacific group in Beijing, Pakistan had accused India of trying to put it in the dock by aggressive questioning about its seriousness to act against banned organisations.