Pak Wants India's Removal From FATF Review Body, Says 'Hostile Nation's Animosity is Well Known'

[MenInG]

Islamabad: Pakistan’s finance ministry has said it has asked the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international terror financing watchdog, to remove India as co-chair of its Asia-Pacific Joint Group.

Currently placed on the FATF's 'grey list', Pakistan has been scrambling in recent months to avoid being added to a list of countries deemed non-compliant with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regulations by the Paris-based FATF, a measure that officials here fear could further hurt its economy.


In a letter addressed to FATF President Marshall Billingslea, Pakistan Finance Minister Asad Umar asked him to appoint any other member country besides India as co-chair of the Asia-Pacific Joint Group "to ensure that (the) FATF review process is fair, unbiased and objective", the finance ministry said in a statement.


The Joint Group is a sub-body of the FATF's International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) of the Asia Pacific Group. Pakistan is a member of the APG and its case is being presented before the FATF by the APG. India's Financial Intelligence Unit's (FIU) director general is the co-chair of the Joint Group.

"India's animosity towards Pakistan was well known and the recent violation of Pakistan's airspace and dropping of bombs inside Pakistani territory was another manifestation of India's hostile attitude," Umar wrote in the letter.

Referring to India's efforts of isolating Pakistan globally and call for the country's blacklisting during the ICRG meeting on February 18, Umar said, "Indian presence among the evaluators and as Co-chair of the Joint Group would undermine the impartiality and spirit of the 'peer review' process." "We firmly believe that India's involvement in the ICRG process will not be fair towards Pakistan," he wrote.

During the February 18-22 plenary and review meetings, the FATF had noted "limited progress" by Pakistan on targets set for January 2019, and urged the country "to swiftly complete its action plan, particularly those with timelines of May 2019."

It had expressed dissatisfaction over Pakistan's action and said the country did "not demonstrate a proper understanding of the terror financing risks posed by Daesh (ISIS), al Qaeda, Jamaat-ud-Dawa(Jud), Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) Haqqani network (HQN), and persons affiliated with the Taliban".

Assuring the FATF president of implementing the Action Plan, the Pakistani finance minister said, "The ICRG and FATF meetings must not be allowed to be used as a platform by India to make political speeches against Pakistan."

The FATF continuing Pakistan with the 'grey' listing means downgrading of the country by multilateral lenders like IMF, World Bank, ADB, EU and also a reduction in risk rating by Moody's, S&P and Fitch.

Pakistan was nominated for a detailed review of its "serious deficiencies" in countering terror financing in February 2018. This nomination was supported by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and India.

https://www.news18.com/news/world/p...-financing-watchdogs-review-body-2062021.html

 

[cricketjoshila]

How many of the 38 members of the FATF are going to support this?

 

[saeed5646]

good and legitimate move

 

[Pak Warrior]

It should be removed, Indias completely lost its mind and shown how irrational it's become over. This is clear in its recent barrage of lies, propaganda, and war mongering. How could you have them in that position knowing the Indo-Pak relationship

 

[IMMY69]

How many of the 38 members of the FATF are going to support this?

I doubt many would. The world will even support terrorists if they have power and influence.

 

[rhony]

And India wants China removed from UNSC. Unless there are legitimate reasons of bias, it's not possible.

 

[PakLFC]

I see this is the new thing. Pak and India want each other removed from various organisations. We know how India's attempts to have Pak banned from international Cricket ended

 

[Technics 1210]

Statistically there are more terrorist attacks in India by Indian terrorist groups compared with Pakistan.

 

[IMMY69]

Statistically there are more terrorist attacks in India by Indian terrorist groups compared with Pakistan.

You could argue there are more Indian terrorists or Indian backed terrorists in Pakistan then there are any other types of terrorists in Pakistan..

 

[MenInG]

LAHORE: Top 13 leaders of the banned Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), including its chief Hafiz Saeed and Naib Emir Abdul Rehman Makki, have been booked in nearly two dozen cases for terror financing and money laundering under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), which registered the cases in five cities of Punjab, declared that the JuD was financing terrorism from the massive funds collected through non-profit organisations and trusts including Al-Anfaal Trust, Dawatul Irshad Trust, Muaz Bin Jabal Trust, etc.

These non-profit organisations were banned in April as the CTD during detailed investigations found that they had links with the JuD and its top leadership, accused of financing terrorism by building huge assets/properties from the collected funds in Pakistan.

Read: NSC orders acceleration of anti-terrorism ops; reinstates ban on JuD, charity arm FIF

Finally, 23 FIRs were registered against JuD leaders at the CTD police stations of Lahore, Gujranwala, Multan, Faisalabad and Sargodha on July 1 and 2.

Besides the top two JuD leaders, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Ameer Hamza, Mohammad Yahya Aziz, Mohammad Naeem, Mohsin Bilal, Abdul Raqeeb, Dr Ahmad Daud, Dr Muhammad Ayub, Abdullah Ubaid, Mohammad Ali and Abdul Ghaffar were also booked in the cases.

“Formal investigations on a large scale have been launched against the top leadership of the JuD for terror financing after the registration of FIRs against them during the last two days,” said a spokesperson for the CTD, Punjab.

According to the official, substantial and irreversible punitive/ legal action has been taken against them by the state, making these organisations “fully dysfunctional”.

He explained that action was taken against them in connection with implementation of UN sanctions imposed on the JuD, Lashkar-i-Taiba and Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) besides their designated entities and leadership as directed by the National Security Committee (NSC) in January 2019 under the National Action Plan.

The CTD took some months to collect evidence against the banned organisations regarding terror financing and assets/properties which had already been seized by the state. “These assets/non-profit organisations have already been taken over by the government in compliance with UN sanctions,” he added.

The spokesperson said the suspects had committed multiple offences of terror financing and money laundering and would be prosecuted in anti-terrorism courts.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1491997/hafiz-saeed-12-other-jud-leaders-booked-for-terror-financing

 

[MenInG]

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Monday issued a strong denial over Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s recent comments about Pakistan’s position with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

“Pakistan rejects the recent comments made by the Indian Defence Minister claiming that “FATF can any time blacklist Pakistan…”. The statement reinforces Pakistan’s concerns, repeatedly highlighted to the FATF membership, about India’s attempts to politicise the FATF proceedings to further its narrow, partisan objectives,” read the FO statement.

“India’s incessant smear against Pakistan and blatant partisanship also call into question its credentials to be co-chair of the Asia-Pacific Joint Group that reviews Pakistan’s progress to implement the FATF Action Plan,” the FO said, adding that these concerns have been previously brought to the attention of FATF members.

It urged the group’s members to take notice of India’s malicious campaign against Pakistan and reject any attempt aimed at politicising the FATF proceedings.

Pakistan’s FATF compliance poor: APG report
“It is important for FATF to ensure that the process remains fair and unbiased,” said the FO.

Pakistan had raised the same demand in March this year when it asked the FATF to remove India as co-chair of the Asia-Pacific Joint Group to ensure that the FATF review process remained objective.

Asad Umar, who has since been removed as finance minister, had asked FATF President Marshall Billingslea to appoint any other member as co-chair of the group in place of India.

The Joint Group is a sub-body of the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) of the Asia Pacific Group. Pakistan is a member of the APG and its case is being presented before the FATF by the APG. India’s Financial Intelligence Unit’s (FIU) director general is the co-chair of the Joint Group.

Pakistan wary of India’s presence on FATF panel

“India’s animosity towards Pakistan is well known and the recent violation of Pakistan’s airspace and dropping of bombs inside Pakistani territory is another manifestation of India’s hostile attitude,” Umar wrote in a letter to the FATF president.

In his letter, the then-finance minister referred to a statement regarding efforts for global isolation of Pakistan and India’s call for the blacklisting of Pakistan during the ICRG meeting on February 18, 2019, which demonstrated Indian intentions to hurt Pakistan’s economic interests.

The Indian defence minister’s provocative statement and Pakistan’s rebuttal come just days before the FATF plenary meetings scheduled to be held in Paris from October 13 to 18.

According to the recently released final Mutual Evaluation Report of the Asia Pacific Group (APG), Pakistan faces high risks of money laundering and terror financing and it needs to improve the understanding of these risks that are also animating from various terrorist groups operating in the country.

The report was released 10 days before the FATF plenary meeting, which is going to give its decision on Pakistan’s status on its grey list.

After the APG report, chances are high that Pakistan would be retained on the grey list.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/207396...-indias-attempts-politicise-fatf-proceedings/