FATF must ensure that Pakistan’s investigation reaches an effective conclusion soon
In recounting its decisions over the past three years, Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said that the members of the 39-member group voted Keeping Pakistan on the ‘Grey List’ Jurisdiction under increased surveillance. The FATF, which assesses countries on efforts to check terrorism financing and money laundering, also placed Turkey on the gray list and exempted Mauritius from it. The FATF found that Pakistan has approved 30 of the total 34 tasks assigned in two batches, and will face another review in February 2022. Notably, FATF President, Marcus Pleier, said that Pakistan has failed to solve a single task. From the first batch, to demonstrate that there is an effective investigation and prosecution of senior leadership of UN designated terrorist groups. From New Delhi’s perspective, the most important of these are Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed, Dawood Ibrahim and other command and control chiefs of terror groups targeting India. Huh. He is yet to be brought to justice for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in 2008, the IC-814 hijacking in 1999 and several major attacks and bomb blasts in Jammu and Kashmir. It is indeed disappointing that increased surveillance by Pakistan’s FATF from 2008-2009, 2012-2015 and 2018-2021 has failed to ensure that some of these leaders are tried in Pakistani courts on terrorism financing charges And they have been convicted. None of them have been effectively prosecuted for violence in India. These very delayed results speak as much of the lack of effectiveness of the FATF as Pakistan’s lack of credibility on terrorism.
Despite Pakistan’s failure to meet its agenda, the FATF president has made it clear that they do not consider placing Pakistan on the ‘black list’, as they say it “continues to cooperate”. On the other hand, FATF has also said that it will not remove Pakistan from the gray list even though the country has completed 26/27 of the basic tasks assigned to it. The action opened the world body to allegations of ‘politicisation’ of the process, both from those who want to see tougher action for non-compliance by Pakistan, and from Pakistan itself, which has accused India of turning the technical process into a political one. is charged. By “targeting” Pakistan. As a result, the FATF must stop kicking the adage. He must ensure that the investigation of Pakistan is not an open process, and is brought to a credible and effective conclusion at the earliest. This is particularly important in light of developments in Afghanistan, and the growth of international terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL, as well as taking advantage of the Taliban’s takeover to create new safe haven and financing networks for Jaish and Lashkar. . The FATF has been committed since 2001 (when it added terror financing to its mandate) to prevent all terrorist groups from accessing these funding networks.
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