India is pressing for Pakistan to be on a counter-terrorism financing and money laundering list, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), according to three Indian government officials who reported Reuters on Thursday.
The FATF is a global body which was created to counter terrorism financing and money laundering, is going to hold a meeting this week in Paris and Pakistan government has been hoping to get off of the “grey list” of countries with inadequate controls over terrorist activities.
According to Reuters news reports, however, the two Indian officials who are dealing with the issue said a new information had been provided to FATF related to Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack on Indian paramilitary on February 14 in Kashmir which claimed the lives of about 44 CRPF personnel, claimed by Pakistani backed and based Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist organization led by Masood Azhar.
The Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has claimed the responsibility of the terror attack in India. A third Indian government official said details were provided to the FATF related to the militant’s organization operations.
When asked about the information provided to the watchdog, one of the Indian officials said, “It was a post-Pulwama brief.” The official further refused to be named as the dialogues is still underway in Paris.
Since last year’s June, Pakistan has been on the “grey list”, creating difficulties for it to access international markets when its economy was stumbling.
Pakistan’s finance ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The FATF has said it would release the results of its review after the meeting of a group’s decision-making body.
In an email, FATF communications management advisor Alexandra Wijmenga-Daniel said: “We will publish the outcomes from the meeting, including our updated statements identifying high-risk and other monitored jurisdictions, at the end of the meeting, on Friday afternoon.”
Over 800 officials from the globe have arrived in Paris, including the world bank and the IMF, for a dice-day FATF gathering.