India May Push FATF to Revert Pakistan to 'Grey List' on Terror Funding Charges
New Delhi: India is likely to take up terror funding charges against Pakistan to make a strong case with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to revert Pakistan to the “grey list”, news agency PTI reported.
"We will be taking it up (with the FATF)," an official source was quoted as saying by PTI on the question if India was planning to ask FATF to place Pakistan in the grey list.
The Indian Express had earlier reported that the Union government was considering the move at FATF to curb financial flows that have allegedly been aiding the neighbour fund terror activities.
The potential decision is part of the retaliatory actions that India has planned against Pakistan for the terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22 that killed 26 people, mostly tourists.
Tensions between India and Pakistan have since escalated, especially after India struck suspected terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 7.
According to PTI, India feels that Pakistan has failed to act on terror emanating from its territory and has been diverting funds from multilateral agencies to buy arms and ammunition. India had earlier this month also opposed the release of the tranche of the IMF's bailout package to Pakistan, which was eventually released.
FATF is a global inter-governmental money-laundering and terror-funding watchdog, which gained more significance after 9/11 when its mandate was expanded to include both money laundering and terror financing.
According to the organisation’s website, the body “researches how money is laundered and terrorism is funded, promotes global standards to mitigate the risks, and assesses whether countries are taking effective action”.
When a country fails to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter issues of money laundering and terror financing, and are under increased monitoring, it is placed under “Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring” or the grey list of FATF.
However, this decision is taken only after consensus among the members. The FATF plenary, the decision-making body, meets thrice a year – in February, June and October.
Pakistan was placed in the FATF's grey list in 2018 and was removed from the list in 2022 after the watchdog decided that Islamabad had complied with international standards to combat money laundering and terror financing.
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