Indian External Affairs Minister (IEAM) recent statement confirming India’s role in keeping Pakistan in the FATF grey-list caused quite a stir. As per the IEAM, Pakistan is on the grey list because of India.
“FATF as all of you know keep a check on fundings for terrorism and deals with black money supporting terrorism. Due to us, Pakistan is under the lens of FATF and it was kept [on] the grey list. We have been successful in pressurizing Pakistan and the fact that Pakistan’s behavior has changed is because of pressure put by India by various measures.” IEAM S Jaishankar said.
The statement did not go unnoticed by Pakistan. On Monday, Pakistan’s Foreign Office slammed India and stated that the IEAM confirmed Pakistan’s stance on India’s negative role in FATF.
Read more: Indian claims it used FATF against Pakistan: Question mark on integrity of FATF!
Federal Energy Minister Hammad Azhar also tweeted that Jaishankar’s statement “only confirms what Pakistan has been saying all along.”
The statement of Indian External Affairs minister only confirms what Pakistan has been saying all along; India actively politicises & undermines the technical processes & spirit of FATF.
Our progress is nevertheless undeniable & we shall soon be completing both our action plans.— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) July 19, 2021
“India actively politicizes & undermines the technical processes & spirit of FATF,” tweeted Azhar. He added that Pakistan’s “progress is nevertheless undeniable” and vowed that Islamabad “shall soon” complete both its action plans.
Questioning FATF’s credibility
Pakistan has currently completed 26 out of 27 points, a feat which should have removed it from the grey list. However, last month, during FATF Plenary’s virtual press conference, FATF announced that Pakistan is to remain on the grey list.
This is because of the Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) agreement, on which the APG had downgraded Pakistan to “non-compliant” from “partial compliant” in its recent report.
The FATF presser said that the country still has not reached the international standards of implementing anti-money laundering laws. The president added that the government of Pakistan has to work on putting more and more terrorists on trial.
Read more: Pakistan to remain on the grey list: FATF Plenary rules
FATF’s decision to keep Pakistan on the grey list, along with IEAM’s recent confession sparked outrage among politicians and journalists. People are questioning FATF’s integrity as it turns a blind eye to India’s nefarious terror activities, while continuously pressurizing Pakistan.
Pakistan highlighted India’s propaganda against it several times, yet no action has been taken against India.
Read more: FATF mislabels Pakistan as “terrorist” while India goes scot free