The FATF evaluation

With Pakistan still in transition to a government after the July 25 general election, comes the time to show that the state is serious about curbing terror financing as part of its efforts to defeat terrorism and extremism in the country. A delegation of the Asia Pacific Group (APG) of the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) is on a week-long visit to Pakistan to monitor the progress made by state institutions in meeting 40 recommendations to avoid slipping to the task force’s blacklist from the grey one the country is currently on. The grey-listing had come during the PML-N government’s tenure, and the issue is currently being dealt with by the caretaker government as the incoming PTI government will take time to hold the reins of power. However, it is likely that Asad Umar, the finance-minister-to-be, will be on board on the matter.

While there are reports of the state having come up with a list of 11 immediate outcomes to comply with the FATF demands, extremely important will be role of key institutions — including the Ministry of Finance, the State Bank of Pakistan, the National Counter Terrorism Authority, the Federal Investigation Agency, the Federal Board of Revenue, and the Financial Monitoring Unit — in convincing the visiting APG delegation that Pakistan is on track to achieve the results that are sought. In the forefront will be Interim Finance Minister Shamshad Akhter who had apprised the task force in Paris two months back of the measures that Pakistan had taken to curb money laundering and terror financing. The FATF had, however, declared the measures ‘not enough’. There is unanimity of views among all pillars of the state that we need to get out of this mess, and that is why officials sound confident that steps taken over the past couple of months will manage to satisfy the FATF. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2018.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.