France and some other European countries have recommended the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to continue to keep Pakistan on the grey list, saying Islamabad has allegedly failed to comply with the conditions set by the global watchdog, according to a report in Dawn newspaper.

The virtual FATF plenary will be held in Paris from February 22 to 25 to consider cases of various countries on the grey list, including Pakistan. The final decision will be made at the conclusion of the meetings. If Pakistan fails to satisfy the FATF in the meeting, it will remain on the grey list till June, said reports.

FATF had placed Pakistan on the list in June 2018.

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France and some other European countries believe that Islamabad has failed to fulfil the FATF criteria.

Paris has reservations over Pakistan’s response to the blasphemous cartoons issue, said a journalist quoted by the newspaper. The report said that Pakistan and France do not enjoy good diplomatic ties, which is evident from the fact that Islamabad doesn’t even have an envoy in the European country.

Meanwhile, the US is reportedly irked by the verdict in the Daniel Pearl case. Omer Saeed Sheikh, a prime accused in the murder of US journalist Pearl, was acquitted by the Pakistani Supreme Court much to the chagrin of Washington. It is feared that the US may oppose Pakistan’s bid to exit the grey list.

On the other hand, Pakistan has said that it has complied with all the FATF recommendations to curb the terror financing and money laundering.

In its last meeting held in Oct 2020, FATF had decided to keep Pakistan on the grey list till Feb 2021 because it failed to fulfill six out of 27 recommendations to combat terror financing.

“Pakistan has already complied with the six recommendations and also submitted details to the FATF secretariat. The members would now evaluate Pakistan’s responses during the meeting…Pakistan had made significant progress in legislation as well as its implementation,” Dawn reported.

In 2020, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government had got three laws — the Anti-Money Laundering (second amendment) Bill-2020, Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) (third amendment) Bill-2020 and Islamabad Capital Territory Waqf Properties Bill-2020 — passed in a joint sitting of parliament to fulfil the legal requirements of FATF.

PROTEST OUTSIDE FATF OFFICE:

Meanwhile, a protest was held outside the FATF office in Paris by dissident Pakistani activists and journalists, who are in self-imposed exile. In a press release, the protesters said that the FATF should not “be blackmailed by China” over the issue of terror financing.

The protesters said China has defended Pakistan at various multilateral forums on the issue of terrorism, urging FATF to take action against Pakistan over alleged support to the banned terror outfits.