NEW DELHI: Pakistan has until October to complete its action plans to curb terror financing and money laundering , failing which it has a real chance of being blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force ( FATF ). Pakistan will stay on the grey list for now .

In a statement after the plenary meeting in Orlando, Florida, the FATF raised concerns that that not only did Pakistan " fail to complete its action plan items with January deadlines, it also failed to complete its action plan items due May 2019. The FATF strongly urges Pakistan to swiftly complete its action plan by October 2019 when the last set of action plans are set to expire. Otherwise, the FATF will decide the next step at that time for insufficient progress.”

At this week’s meeting in Florida, the discussions agreed to keep the heat on Pakistan. Contrary to media reports, there is no voting at this meeting, said diplomatic sources. The voting will be part of the October plenary when Pakistan’s fate is decided. At the current meeting, there was an open discussion and a common position was arrived at.

Asking Pakistan “to continue to work on implementing its action plan to address its strategic deficiencies”, the FATF gave Pakistan a list of 10 demands to fulfil. These are part of the 27-point action plan Pakistan has to complete by October, 2019. For the second time, FATF criticised Pakistan for its failure to “demonstrate a proper understanding of Pakistan’s transnational TF (terror financing) risk.”

It will be at the October plenary in Paris that Pakistan will need 15 countries to support it to stay out of the greylist. China will take over the presidency of FATF which is being seen in Pakistan as a positive sign that it could help Islamabad to stay out of the greylist. The current plenary reviewed Pakistan’s actions and urged it to complete its commitments – Pakistan has not moved on 25 out of 27 action plans determined for it in October 2018.

In the run-up to the current plenary, China had quietly lobbied to not include Pakistan in the public statement. In this, Beijing was supported by the Turkey, Malaysia and GCC countries including Saudi Arabia. They wanted Pakistan to be spared the humiliation of a public statement. On the other hand, the four countries who originally named Pakistan in the greylist last year – US, UK, Germany and France – have said they want “sustained and irreversible” action against its terror infrastructure. In the end, everybody signed on to the statement.

So far, Pakistan has seized 800 properties belonging to JUD, FIF, JEM and arrested some of their leaders. This week, reports said Pakistan had moved the students from the JUD and FIF schools to government schools – FATF had questioned Pakistan on the funding of these terror group-run schools. The provincial governments have taken over the running of these 800 properties, mainly schools, hospitals, and other charitable institutions. Where is the investigation about the source of funds for these bodies, FATF has asked. Pakistan has itself assessed that it takes $14 million (about Rs 180 crore) a year to run all of them.

News agency PTI was told by a Pakistan government official this week that the FATF had objected to the Pakistani government's allocation of Rs 180 crore for running the JuD and FIF schools across the country. "The government could not satisfy the FATF about running a good number of seminaries and schools of JuD and FIF after taking over their control in March. Therefore, the Imran Khan administration is seriously considering shifting the students of these seminaries and schools to the government-run institutions," he said.

Pakistan has not shown any action against terrorist assets — armories, weapons, explosives, camps. FATF has asked for more detailed action and reporting on this. In addition, Pakistan’s anti-terror laws are not yet in conformity with FATF guidelines.



In Video: FATF gives Pakistan a list of 10 demands to fulfil