Pakistan to find itself on Black list after june if it does not prepare a comprehensive action plan to eradicate terrorist financing .
Between now and June, Pakistan will have to work out the details of the evaluation process with the FATF and a failure to do so could trigger another process, which may push Pakistan on the blacklist of wilful violators.
Usually, the FATF waits for a mutual evaluation report before starting the listing process but in Pakistan’s case, the group took an unprecedented step when it agreed to debate a US proposal, backed by Britain, France and Germany, to nominate Pakistan as a country having “strategic deficiencies” in “countering financing of terrorism”.
“The move was against the understanding given to Pakistan that Islamabad will be asked to work with the FATF on an action plan, before the listing process starts,” an official source told Dawn.
The Paris plenary held its first meeting on Pakistan on Feb 20 where China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, which was representing the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as it’s not a full member, opposed the move to place Pakistan on the watchlist. But the US pushed for an unprecedented second discussion on Pakistan, held on Feb 22.
By then,
Washington had convinced Riyadh to give up its support to Pakistan in return for a full FATF membership. This left only two – China and Turkey – in the Pakistan camp, one less than the
required number of three members to stall a move.
At this stage, the
Chinese informed Islamabad that they were opting out as they did not want to “lose face by supporting a move that’s doomed to fail”, another official source told Dawn. “
Pakistan appreciated the Chinese position and
conveyed its gratitude to Turkey for continuing to support Islamabad against all odds,” the source added.
Pakistan was first put on the FATF grey list in 2012 but was removed in 2015, after the FATF certified that Islamabad had done enough to counter terror financing.
Now, Pakistan will have to follow the same process that it did in 2015, starting with an action plan that Islamabad is required to submit in May.
If the FATF approves the action plan in June, it will make a formal announcement about placing Pakistan on the grey list. Should Islamabad fail to submit an action plan, or
if the FATF does not accept it, the group can place Pakistan on its black list, along with North Korea and Iran.