Pakistan protests India’s inclusion in FATF Asia Pacific Group

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has raised an objection over India’s inclusion in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Asia Pacific Group on Saturday.

Finance Minister Asad Umar has written a letter to the FATF registering Pakistan’s protest on the latest member induction. “India has an aim to impede Pakistan’s economic progress,” he wrote in the letter.

He underlined that recent violations of line of control by India demonstrated the mindset of the neighbouring country. Umar wrote that India was lobbying hard to isolate Pakistan in the international world.

The finance minister said Pakistan was implementing the action plan given by the FATF and pursuing it rigorously. He feared that Pakistan would be harassed with the inclusion of India in the FATF Asia Pacific Group.

The letter referred to Indian Finance Minister’s statement regarding efforts for global isolation of Pakistan and Indian call for blacklisting of Pakistan during the ICRG meeting on February 18, 2019, which demonstrated Indian intentions to hurt Pakistan’s economic interests.

The Minister stated that given the ‘clear Indian motivation to hurt Pakistan’s economic interests, Indian presence among the evaluators and as Co-chair of the Joint Group would undermine the impartiality and spirit of the ‘peer review’ process, which lies at the heart of FATF’s methodology and objective assessment’. ‘We firmly believe that India’s involvement in the ICRG process will not be fair towards Pakistan’.

The Finance Minister urged that FATF appoint another country as co-chair of the Joint Group instead of India to ensure an impartial assessment of Pakistan’s progress in regard to the FATF Action Plan. ‘The ICRG and FATF meetings must not be allowed to be used as a platform by India to make political speeches against Pakistan. The sanctity of FATF processes require that separate assessments by individual countries for politically motivated outcomes are not allowed under the ICRG review’, the letter said.

The Minister assured the FATF President that ‘Pakistan remains firm in its commitment to work with FATF/ICRG and the Joint Group and to implement the Action Plan’ and demanded that ‘FATF must take steps to ensure that the ICRG process is fair, unbiased and impartial towards Pakistan.

Pakistan raised its concern with the Asia Pacific Group in June last year, over India’s negative attitude and its intentions to hurt Pakistan’s interests but no action was taken in regard to re-composition of the Joint Group. Similar concerns were also raised with FATF Secretariat and ICRG Co-chairs on the sidelines of the FATF Plenary of February 2019.

Meanwhile, the FATF in its appraisal of the Pakistan’s progress over combating money laundering and terrorism financing has called the steps taken by the countrysatisfactory, however, the body advised to take quick steps to meet its May 2019 deadline, so as to be de-listed.

The FATF had placed Pakistan on a money laundering “grey list” early in 2018 but given it time to take action against further downgrade.

“Since June 2018, when Pakistan made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF to strengthen its anti money laundering/combating financing of terrorism regime and to address its strategic counter-terrorist financing-related deficiencies, Pakistan has taken steps towards improving the regime, including by operationalising the integrated database for its currency declaration regime,” the body said in a statement.

In order to qualify for a de-listing, the FATF has urged that, Pakistan should continue to work on implementing its action plan to address its strategic deficiencies.