BREAKING NEWS: FATF keeps Pakistan on grey list till June 2020 for lack of action against terror groups

The decision to this effect was during the FATF plenary, which is currently ongoing in the French capital of Paris.

PARIS: In a big setback to Pakistan, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Friday (Febnruary 21, 2020) decided to keep Islamabad on its grey list till June 2020 due to lack of action against terror groups operating on its soil. The decision to this effect was during the conlcusion of FATF plenary, which was being held in the French capital of Paris. The key plenary session of the FATF began on February 16.

The global financial watchdog decided to keep Pakistan on its grey list untill it fully implements it 27-point Action Plan. It earlier agreed that the Imran Khan-led government had shown compliance on 14 points, but said that it needed to do more.

In October, the FATF had decided to keep Pakistan on its Grey List for failure to curb funnelling of funds to terror groups Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and others.

Pakistan is already finalising major amendments to at least a dozen of its laws to meet the FATF requirements by June this year and has sentenced Mumbai attack mastermind and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed to 11 years in two cases of terror financing on February 12.

Pakistan had so far successfully managed to avoid the blacklist due to diplomatic support from China, Turkey, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Middle Eastern countries. It required just three votes out of a total of 39 members of FATF forum to avoid falling into the blacklist. 

FATF grey listing of Pakistan holds significance for India as Army Chief General MM Naravane on Thursday (February 20) claimed that the pressure built by the anti-terror watchdog on Islamabad is one of the factors behind the reduction of terrorism in the Kashmir Valley.

"If the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) comes down heavily on them, they (Pakistan) may have to rethink on their rhetoric and activities. FATF is a factor in the reduction of terror activities in Kashmir Valley,’’ General MM Naravane told reporters.

More than 800 representatives from 205 countries and jurisdictions around the world, including the IMF, UN, World Bank, and other organisations, are part of the crucial FATF meet in Paris.