India expects Pak to take credible, verifiable action on terror after FATF rap

New Delhi, June 22: India on Saturday said that it expects Pakistan to take "credible, verifiable, irreversible and sustainable" actions against terrorism emanating from it soil and adheres to FATF's 'action plan.

Financial Action Task Force (FATF) earlier issued a strong warning to Pakistan, stating that the country could be blacklisted unless it fulfils an "action plan" against UN designated terrorists operating on its soil by October.

"We expect Pakistan to take all necessary steps to effectively implement the FATF Action Plan fully within the remaining time frame i.e. by September 2019 in accordance with its political commitment to the FATF and take credible, verifiable, irreversible and sustainable measures to address global concerns related to terrorism and terrorist financing emanating from any territory under its control," a Ministry of External Affairs statement said.

With the support of all-weather ally China, Turkey and Malaysia, Pakistan managed to avoid being placed on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)'s blacklist which would have dealt a severe blow to the Islamic Republic's economy.

Pakistan would, however, continue to remain in the FATF's grey list. The FATF, the international terror financing and money-laundering watchdog, pulled up Pakistan for having failed for the second consecutive time to implement an action plan to counter terror financing, said reports.

FATF has issued a strong warning to Pakistan, stating that the country could be blacklisted unless it fulfils an "action plan" against UN designated terrorists operating on its soil by October.

FATF plenary meetings were held in Orlando, Florida, from June 16 to 21 and towards the end of the plenary session, Islamabad was given a warning and told that it lacked a proper understanding of transnational terrorist financing. Many countries also reportedly expressed concerns over Pakistan's failure in registering cases against terror masterminds Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar under anti-terror laws.

In a statement after the end of the plenary, FATF reporttedly urged "Pakistan to complete its action plan by October 2019 when the last set of 'action plan' items is set to expire."

To avoid being put in blacklist, a country needs support of at least three member states, as per the FATF charter. An Economic Times report states that Pakistan managed to avoid being placed on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) blacklist for now following support from all-weather ally China, traditional ally Turkey and Malaysia.

In February this year, the FATF decided to continue to retain Pakistan in the grey list, despite Indiai's push to blacklist it over terror funding. The decision to keep Pakistan in the 'grey list' was then taken at the end of week-long meetings by the FATF in Paris

After the Pulwama terror attack, India had reportedly made a strong case in front of the FATF against Pakistan's non-compliance in curbing terror funding and pressed the watchdog to keep its neighbouring nation on a terrorism financing watch list.

Earlier in June 2018, FAFT had officially placed Pakistan on its grey list, during a plenary meeting held in Paris, due to strategic deficiencies in its anti-money laundering and terrorism financing regime.