Certainly this was a good news for Pakistan last week, albeit for the time being. Indian concerted efforts to place Pakistan on black list by Financial Action Task Force (FATF) resulted into disappointment.
FATF on Friday decided that Pakistan will remain on its grey list for the next four months. It has asked Islamabad to take more steps to curb terror financing and money laundering.
Had the FATF put Pakistan on black list, it would have been big blow, particularly to its already strained economy.
It is time for Pakistan to take corrective measures in light of the serious concerns expressed by FATF over lack of progress in addressing terror financing risks.
FATF has urged Islamabad to swiftly complete its full 27-point action plan by February 2020, cautioning that action will be taken against Pakistan otherwise.
The Financial Action Task Force, in its meeting in Paris, has acknowledged that Pakistan has made progress towards improving its anti-money laundering regime. “Pakistan should continue to work on implementing its action plan to address its strategic deficiencies,” it added.
However, it has expressed concerns with the overall lack of progress to address terror financing risks, particularly Islamabad’s failure to complete action plan in line with the agreed timelines.
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The task force has observed that Pakistan, to date, has only largely addressed five of 27 action items, with varying levels of progress made on the rest of the action plan.
It has asked Pakistan to swiftly complete its full action plan by February 2020. The FATF would now take the ultimate decision in February after analyzing Pakistan’s progress regarding 27-point action plan.
Pakistan has reaffirmed its commitment to fully implement the action plan. Now it should be priority of the incumbent government to work on remaining point on war footing and get clean chit for Pakistan.
