A Pakistani official on Thursday said that Pakistan is expecting a poor rating and fears blacklisting by Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Although the country's performance was good at the Asia Pacific Joint Group meeting, this aforementioned reason has led Pakistani officials to reach other FATF members for support, the official said on condition of strict anonymity. The Mutual Evaluation Report (MER) by the Asia Pacific Group (APG) from August 18-23, 2019 in Canberra had placed Pakistan on its Enhanced Follow-Up. This indicates that the APJG (Asia Pacific Joint Group) which met in Bangkok this week is not even convinced moderately.

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Pakistan official blames Indian APJG members of non-cooperation

The skeptical officer spoke further on the Bangkok meet. He pointed out that there were two particular Indian members in the group at APJG who posed difficult questions. He added that the group needed to be fair and realize the legacy issues. Reiterating the promises of the Pakistani PM Imran Khan, he said that his country is trying to remove terrorism.

"Despite having done so much of hard work including answering 127 questions of APJG and giving clear written replies based on statistics, two Indian members of the 16-member multi-nation Group posed twisted and complex questions on every one of 27 items. The Group needs to realize that these are legacy issues and the new PTI Government is committed to removing terrorism from every nook and corner of Pakistan,"  said the skeptical official who did not wish to be named. 

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Pak plans to meet FATF members 

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is slated to meet at least 20 global leaders on the sidelines at UNGA later this month. Just before that, the Pakistani Minister of Economic Affairs reportedly expressed his worry to the PM on the issue. The minister led the delegation from the front and briefed the Prime Minister and informed about his apprehension that the Group's report will be similar to APG MER. The country is trying to tackle the situation by enhancing its outreach to all members of FATF to prevent its blacklisting in October. Yet it remains a possibility. Earlier in June 2018, after a 15-month Action Plan to complete implementation of a 27 point Action Plan, FATF had placed Pakistan on its grey list. The precious doings indicate that they might be on the blacklist.
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