ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) said on Monday that the Indian foreign minister’s statement that the Narendra Modi government had ensured Pakistan remained on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list had vindicated Pakistan’s longstanding stance on “India’s negative role” in the global financial watchdog.
The FO said the India foreign minister’s statement had exposed India’s “true colours” and “duplicitous” role.
“Pakistan has always been highlighting to the international community the politicisation of FATF and undermining of its processes by India. The recent Indian statement is just further corroboration of its continued efforts to use an important technical forum for its narrow political designs against Pakistan.
“While Pakistan has been sincerely and constructively engaged with FATF during the implementation of the action plan, India has left no stone unturned in casting doubts on Pakistan’s progress through disgraceful means,” said the FO statement.
It said Pakistan would continue exposing India’s role to the international community by bringing the recent “confession” to the FATF’s and international community’s notice.
It added that Pakistan was also considering approaching the financial watchdog for “appropriate action” in the matter.
“Following the recent confession by [the] Indian government, India’s credentials for assessing Pakistan in FATF as co-chair of the Joint Group or for that matter any other country are subject to questions, which we urge FATF to look into,” the statement said.
The FO said Pakistan’s “immense progress” in Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) had been demonstrated through “concrete, tangible and verifiable actions” that were acknowledged by FATF.
“Despite distractions including politicisation of FATF processes by certain jurisdictions, Pakistan reaffirms its commitment to bring its AML/CFT systems to international standards for its own good and also to fulfil its international obligations and commitments,” the FO statement said.
Modi’s government ‘ensured’ Pakistan remains on grey list
A day ago, India’s Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar said the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Narendra Modi ensured that Pakistan remained on the ‘grey list’ of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Hindustan Times reported.
“Due to us, Pakistan is under the lens of FATF and it was kept in the grey list,” Jaishankar was quoted as saying while addressing a virtual training programme on foreign policy for BJP leaders.
