Pakistan placed on ‘grey list’ by FATF

In a blow to Pakistan, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has placed it on the grey list for failing to curb anti-terror financing despite Islamabad submitting a 26-point action plan and launching a concerted diplomatic effort to avert the decision, officials said Thursday.

The decision was taken late Wednesday night at the global financial watchdog’s planery session in Paris where Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar represented Pakistan, according to official sources.

The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

The announcement comes a day after Pakistan submitted a comprehensive 26-point action plan to the FATF to choke the funding of militants groups, including Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led JuD and its affiliates, to avoid being blacklisted by it.

The placement on the grey list could hurt Pakistan’s economy as well as its international standing.

Earlier in the day, Akhtar had urged the FATF to remove Pakistan from its grey list.

Official sources in the Foreign Office, however, it was not a surprise to see Pakistan being placed officially on the grey list.

“It is a political decision and has nothing to do with the performance of Pakistan against terrorism,” they said.

They said that Pakistan will stay on the list for a year or so and will eventually be out of it as has happened in the past.

ISLAMABAD: