Pakistan unlikely to avoid FATF's grey-list next year: Indian officials
Turkey was the only country of the 39 members of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) batting for Pakistan's removal from the terror financing watchdog's grey list. The FATF recently voted to keep Pakistan on the grey list. Not even Pakistan's "all-weather ally" China supported it. Indian officials reportedly said that Pakistan is unlikely to avoid being grey-listed with another review in February 2021.
The FATF on Friday decided to retain Pakistan on the grey list while the task force President, Marcus Pleyer, told Islamabad that it couldn't take forever to deliver on the action plan. Pakistan has delivered on 21 out of 27 parameters to curb terror financing and money laundering. The case will be reviewed in February 2021.
Indian counter-terror officials told Hindustan Times the FATF's decision indicates a lack of diplomatic support across member states for Pakistan. A top counter-terror official in New Delhi said, "It does appear that Pakistan's efforts to exit the grey list have reached a dead end, not unless it takes substantive and not cosmetic steps to tighten control over terror financing over the next four months."
If Pakistan completes the 27-action plan, the FATF will send a team to Islamabad to evaluate if the measures imposed are working effectively. Only on the basis of this assessment will Pakistan manage to ditch the grey list in February next year.
However, Indian officials told HT that it is unlikely to deliver on the action plan, considering the deep linkages between the establishment and terror groups. Enacting laws is easier, but enforcing them is difficult, an Indian official said. A second official said, "It is going to be unlikely that Pakistan will crackdown on terror groups that the establishment has conceived, birthed, and nurtured."
"The UNSC (United Nations Security Council) 1267 Sanctions List has 130 names from Pakistan, which claims that it can locate only 19," the second official told HT, wondering if the Pakistan Army can even initiate action against Pakistan's terror leadership.
