Pakistan Likely to Stay in the Global Watchdog FATF Grey List

New Delhi: As the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global watchdog for terror financing and money laundering, meets in Paris for it's crucial plenary, it will most likely vote to keep Pakistan in the grey list. Though the Asia Pacific Group (APG) subgroup has recommended that Islamabad be downgraded to the blacklist due to its poor compliance on measures to tackle terror funding, the FATF is most likely to keep it in the grey list.

The FATF is currently headed by China and has Malaysia, Turkey, as well as Saudi Arabia, are its members. China, Malaysia, and Turkey are most likely to vote against a downgrade for close friend Pakistan.

“The APG has recommended that Pakistan should be downgraded from grey to black. But the APG is not empowered to downgrade, which comes from the FATF,” strategic expert and Pakistan watcher Jai Kumar Verma told IANS. At the FATF meeting, it will require a minimum of three votes to prevent blacklisting. “At the FATF, if the three countries — China, Malaysia and Turkey — say that Pakistan should not be downgraded from grey to black, then it will not.

“And the three countries will vote that Pakistan should not be downgraded to black,” he added.

However, even remaining in the grey list will prove very costly for Pakistan. It's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had in April said that Pakistan will face losses worth $10 billion annually if it remains in the ‘grey list’. “The damage will be much more if it is downgraded to the blacklist,” Verma added.

“Pakistan has been alleging that India is trying to get it downgraded to the blacklist. That is not true. Why would India do it? The APG has already said that Pakistan has not been able to fulfill the measures required to tackle money laundering and terror funding, and thus it should be downgraded,” he added.

On Pakistan’s arrest earlier this week of four Jamaat-ud-Dawah members, Verma said, “This is only an eyewash and false gestures that Pakistan indulges in whenever required.”

“Instead of blaming India or anybody else, Pakistan should try to amend its own ways. But it is difficult for Pakistan because its army is getting so many benefits, and it has made it a policy to launch a low-intensity war against India and in Afghanistan,” he said. (IANS)

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