Islamabad: Pakistan was on Friday in a denial mode as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) decided to place it back on its terrorist financing watch-list.
The decision is a blow to both Pakistan’s economy and its strained relations with the United States. Reports after the FATF meeting in Paris said Pakistan will be included in the list in June this year. Earlier in the week China, Turkey, and the Gulf Cooperation Council were opposing the US-led move against Pakistan but by Thursday night both China and Saudi Arabia dropped their opposition.
In a message posted on Twitter, interior minister Ahsan Iqbal said there was no official intimation of FATF decision yet and “we should not speculate till official statement is released”. He also thanked Turkey for its support. The move comes days after reports that Pakistan had been given a three-month reprieve before being placed on the list, which could hamper banking and hurt foreign investment.
Foreign office spokesperson Dr Mohammed Faisal responded, saying “Pakistan has serious concerns over and objections to the introduction of this new nomination procedure which is unprecedented and in clear violation of established rules/practices of FATF.” He said most of the concerns raised by the US side regarding deficiencies in the anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism regime had already been addressed in 2015 when Pakistan got an exit from the ‘grey list’.
