A day after its hostile neighbor Pakistan was relieved off of the terrorism watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s ‘grey list,’ India has reaffirmed that the world should remain clear that Pakistan must continue to take "credible, verifiable and irreversible" action against terrorism.
"It is in global interest that the world remains clear that Pakistan must continue to take credible, verifiable, irreversible and sustained action against terrorism and terrorist financing emanating from territories under its control," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told reporters on Friday.
Pakistan was ‘forced to take action’ against terrorism
"As a result of the FATF scrutiny, Pakistan has been forced to take some action against well-known terrorists, including those involved in attacks against the entire international community in Mumbai on 26/11," Bagchi reiterated.
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"We understand that Pakistan will continue to work with the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) to further improve its Anti Money Laundering (AML) or Counter Terror Financing (CFT) system," he added.
The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) took Pakistan off a list of countries under increased monitoring, also known as the "grey list". The decision was taken by the FATF at its plenary held in Paris on October 20-21.
FATF’s grey list
Pakistan was taken off the "grey list" in the wake of Islamabad's "high-level political commitment" in dealing with the menace of money laundering and carrying out reforms in its existing monitoring mechanism, according to the watchdog.
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Grey listing of a country by the FATF simply means that the country has been placed under enhanced monitoring to check its progress against money laundering and terrorist financing. As of March 2023, besides Pakistan, 22 other countries were officially referred to as “jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies” and placed under the grey list. These include Syria, Turkey, Myanmar, Philippines, South Sudan, Uganda, and Yemen.
Myanmar was moved to the black list on October 21.
At a virtual press conference subsequently, FATF president T Raja Kumar, who is from Singapore, said Pakistan has largely addressed all the 34 items flagged by the watchdog.
However, he said, Pakistan still needs to continue to work in this regard and the FATF encourages it to cooperate with its Asia Pacific Group to combat financial terrorism and money laundering.
(With inputs from PTI)
