Pakistan has 4 months to avoid a pariah tag

NEW DELHI: A global watchdog for terror financing has told Pakistan to swiftly complete the full action plan given to it for checking fund flows to terrorist groups by February or face blacklisting, which would impact its already fragile economy.There was consensus on issuing Pakistan a stern warning and retaining it in the ‘grey list’ based on its poor performance on the 27-point action plan, Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said on Friday as it ended its plenary meet in Paris.By making its warning to Pakistan public, FATF has given notice to financial institutions that they need to ready their systems for the eventuality in February 2020.The Paris-based inter-governmental body set up to combat money laundering and terrorist financing noted that Pakistan addressed only five out of the 27 tasks given to it in controlling funding to terror groups.Hence the unanimous decision to express serious concern with overall lack of progress in addressing its transnational terror financing risks. “Chances of Pakistan exiting the grey list in the next few years are now reduced to nil, and the possibility of a formal black listing in February 2020 is now highly probable,” a diplomatic source said.“While Pakistan has made some progress on some parameters the Feb 2020 deadline is critical and Pakistan will be blacklisted if it fails. French worked closely with USA and other European partners to achieve strong statement in Paris,” a French diplomatic source told ET.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/35U6h7I