Pakistan has received 150 questions from the joint group of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), in response to the report submitted by Imran Khan-led government, seeking clarifications, updates, and action against individuals belonging to proscribed outfits. The government has to submit the answers by 8 January.
“Yes we did receive a response from FATF on our compliance report through an email. The body raised a set of 150 questions in the email, some of them seeking more data, some clarifications,”a top official source was quoted as saying by Pakistani news website The News.
The next meeting of FATF meeting is scheduled to be held from January 21 to 24 in Beijing, where Pakistan will be given an opportunity to defend the points in the compliance report.
Pakistan is expecting that FATF may grant it another postponement, probably until June 2020, in its upcoming plenary review meeting, as the February deadline is too short a period for Pakistan to comply with the remaining 22 action plans.
The task force kept the country on its grey list for an extended period till February 2020. In the previous meeting held in October, it had warned that Islamabad would be put on the blacklist if it did not comply with the remaining 22 out of 27 points related to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing identified by the watchdog.
If blacklisted in February, cash-strapped Pakistan’s financial condition could worsen as aid from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the European Union would not be forthcoming.
India and several other FATF member countries have repeatedly accused Islamabad of failing to take action against UN-designated terrorists, pointing out that its anti-terror law still remains out of sync with internationally accepted standards.
