Islamabad hasn't taken action on terrorists, says India ahead of FATF's decision on Pakistan's listing

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson said, "As is well known, Pakistan continues to provide safe havens to terrorist entities and individuals."

New Delhi: Ahead of the announcement by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Pakistan's continued listing or delisting, India on Thursday said that Islamabad has not taken any action on terrorists and it has been providing safe haven to them.

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, "As is well known, Pakistan continues to provide safe havens to terrorist entities and individuals and has also not yet taken any action against several terrorist entities and individuals including those proscribed by the UNSC such as Masood Azhar, Dawood Ibrahim, Zakir-ur-Rahman Lakhvi etc."

The terrorist listed by India are responsible for a number of terror attacks in India like the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Pakistan has addressed only 21 action items so far out of total 27 point FATF Action Plan and "6 important action items are yet to be addressed", the MEA spokesperson highlighted.

FATF's three-day virtual meet is underway with an announcement due on October 23 (Friday). Pakistan was put on FATF's grey-list in 2018 and given an action plan to it so that money in the country is not used in terror financing. If Pakistan fails to act on the plan it could be blacklisted or continue to remain on the grey list, something that impacts the economy of the country.

The MEA also pointed out increased "unprovoked ceasefire violations, often on civilian areas" by Pakistani forces at the Line of Control (LoC) "to support infiltration of terrorists". So far in 2020, Pakistani forces have carried out more than 3,800 unprovoked ceasefire violations.

India has also been observed that Pakistan has been trying to drop arms and ammunition close to the LoC and smuggling of arms and narcotic substances has spilled over to the International Boundary.