New Delhi: Pakistan will most likely stay on the ‘grey list’ of Financial Action Task Force, that helps stop terror financing among a host of other objectives, sources told NDTV.
India pushed hard for Pakistan to stay on that list after the terror attacks in Pulwama which killed 44 CRPF jawans, the worst in almost three decades. Being on this list will make it extremely difficult for Pakistan to get loans from international lending institutes namely the IMF.
A meeting scheduled in Paris with 38 countries at the FATF, the body urged Pakistan to swiftly complete its action plan, mainly with timelines of May 2019. Review of Pakistans commitment to combat terror-financing will be done in June and late October this year. Failing to comply with the standards asked and expected, the country could even be ‘blacklisted.’
Pakistan was trying hard to be removed from the ‘grey list’ which they found a position in June last year. A senior intelligence officer said ‘a dossier’, which nails the culpability of Pakistan in the Pulwama attack, will be handed to FATF. Through this dossier, India wants to expose its neighbour and its links to terrorism and cross-border violence. India also wants to call attention to Pakistani agencies providing funding to terror groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed, which claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack.
Getting blacklisted at the FATF will have insurmountable repercussions for Pakistan. The country will be regarded ‘non co-operative’ globally and help from lenders like The International Monetary Fund, The World Bank, Asian Development Bank and European Union will be hard to get by.
All this at the back of reeling under a huge debt burden, Prime Minister Imran Khan has been going around in search of bail packages. Saudi Arabia and UAE have promised aid and investments into the country. The IMF too assured Khan that they would stand by his country in times of need.
Getting blacklisted would make Pakistan’s chances of coming out of the financial turmoil more difficult and progress and vision to reform the country will take a major blow.
(With inputs from NDTV)
