Blow to Pakistan as FATF says Islamabad took no action against 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed

NEW DELHI: In a major blow to Pakistan, international money-laundering watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF), on Monday said Islamabad has failed to take action to fully implement UNSCR 1267 obligations against Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and other terrorists associated with JuD and Laskhar-e-Taiba.

FATF said that Pakistan must “identify, assess and understand its money laundering, terror financing risks, including transnational risks and risks associated with terrorist groups” operating from its soil.

"With the exception of some recent actions discussed in detail below, Pakistan has not taken sufficient measures to fully implement UNSCR 1267 obligations against all listed individuals and entities - especially those associated with Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT)/Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) as well as the groups' leader Hafiz Saeed," the report says.

The report also raises questions over the decisions taken by the Pakistani government without taking them to their logical conclusion such as, "In February 2018, Pakistan passed the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Ordinance 2018, which amended the ATA to automatically proscribe individuals and entities listed at the United Nations. Immediately, following the adoption of this amendment, Pakistan seized numerous articles of property belonging to JuD/FIF, after minimal actions had been taken prior to this point."

Titled Mutual Evaluation Report of Pakistan, the APG report was adopted by the group during the annual meet in Canberra, Australia in August 2019. The observations made by the group is a big blow to Pakistan as it increases chances of Islamabad being put on the FATF “black-list”. It may be recalled that Paris-based FATF had placed Pakistan on the grey list in June 2018 and Islamabad was given a plan of action to complete it by October 2019, or face the risk of being placed on the FATF black list.

The APG’s report is based on information provided by Pakistan and the field visit undertaken by an assessment team comprising experts from US, UK, China, Indonesia, Maldives and Turkey in October 2018.