Pakistan might face economic sanctions if it fails to implement FATF recommendations, warns finance secretary

Pakistan’s finance secretary Arif Ahmed Khan on Tuesday warned that the country has to take strict measures to implement Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations, failing which they might face economic sanctions, a Dawn report said. At a meeting of a sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Khan said Pakistan has to proceed against banned outfits. The FATF’s International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) expressed dissatisfaction with Pakistan’s progress till January 2019 over their failure in demonstrating why eight proscribed organisations were categorised as low risk, when the ICRG viewed them as high risk. The next review will take place in June 2019. [caption id=“attachment_6115071” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File picture of Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan. PTI[/caption] In a FATF plenary meeting in Paris between 18-22 February, India presented a dossier which explained how Pakistani agencies are providing funds to the JeM. Pakistan is currently in FATF’s ‘grey list’ and may be moved to the ‘blacklist’ by September if they do not implement the international watchdog’s recommendations. FATF had said that Pakistan did not demonstrate an understanding of terror financing risks and condemned the 14 February Pulwama attack. Khan’s statement comes only a day after 44 members of banned outfits, including Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar’s brother and son, in Pakistan were taken into preventive detention. Earlier this week, FATF had also warned Pakistan to curb terror financing when the country’s Financial Monitoring Unit reported 8,707 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) in 2018 and 1,136 STRs alone in January and February this year, Dawn reported. India-Pakistan tensions mounted after the Pulwama attack which resulted in the deaths of over 40 CRPF personnel. On 26 February, India carried out precision strikes in Pakistan’s Balakot, decimating JeM’s biggest training camp.