"Take credible, verifiable, irreversible and sustainable measures," says India to Pakistan after FATF warns Islamabad of consequences over failure in terror financing

On the day when the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said that Pakistan has failed to complete its action plan on terror financing, the Ministry of External Affairs released a statement urging the neighbour to address the concerns related to terrorism.

The FATF warned Islamabad of consequences if the commitments were not met by October, and could also mean the country getting blacklisted. 

MEA in a statement said: 

"We expect  Pakistan to take all necessary steps to effectively implement the FATF Action Plan fully within the remaining time frame, that is, 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."

The Paris-based global body is working to curb terrorism financing and money laundering and has asked Pakistan to reassess the operation of banned terrorist outfits in the country.

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In June last year, the FATF placed Pakistan on the grey list of countries whose domestic laws are considered weak to tackle the challenges of money laundering and terrorism financing.

In a statement issued at the conclusion of its Plenary meeting in Orlando, Florida, the FATF expressed concern "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 plan items are set to expire.

"Otherwise, the FATF will decide the next step at that time for insufficient progress," the international financial body said leaving a strong warning to Pakistan.

The FATF said Pakistan had taken steps towards improving its AML/CFT (anti-money laundering/combating the financial terrorism) regime, including the recent development of its terroe funding risk assessment addendum.

However, it does not demonstrate a proper understanding of Pakistan's transnational terror funding risk.

Reacting to the FATF's warning, Pakistan on Friday said it was committed to taking measures needed to implement the action plan agreed with the FATF to come out of the greylist.

"The Government of Pakistan reiterates its commitment to take all necessary measures to ensure completion of the Action Plan in a timely manner," the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

(With PTI inputs)