Pakistan fearful of FATF heat for not acting against terrorists

NEW DELHI: Pakistan has admitted for the first time that it faces economic sanctions over non-implementation of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) recommendations. Talking to reporters in Islamabad earlier this week, Pakistan finance secretary Arif Ahmed Khan said the country must proceed against banned terror outfits in light of FATF’s recommendations, or it might face economic sanctions.

The FATF will undertake the next review of Pakistan’s progress on implementing the recommendations in June. It is currently on FATF’s Grey List and India has pushed to move it to the Black List. The FATF blacklist means the country concerned is “non-cooperative” in the global fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. If the FATF blacklists Pakistan, it may lead to downgrading of the country by lenders like the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and European Union.

At its last Plenary in Paris in February, the FATF, while condemning the terror attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama, had expressed concerns over Pakistan’s lack of action against terror groups. “Such attacks cannot occur without money and the means to move funds between terrorist supporters,” the watchdog said in a statement after the meeting.