Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Analysts: Pakistan Still at Risk of Being Placed on FATF Blacklist

Niala Mohammad

   VOA's Muhammad Ikram contributed to this report.

   Pakistan remains at risk of being placed on the "blacklist" of
   Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global watchdog monitoring terror
   financing and money laundering around the world, experts warn.

   The global watchdog's regional body -- Asia Pacific Group (APG) --
   examined Pakistan's performance on key issues related to terror
   financing and money laundering at a two-day preliminary meeting in
   Bangkok in early September.

   The final decision as to whether the country would be placed on the
   so-called blacklist is pending until the APG presents its final report
   to the FATF Plenary and Working Group meetings scheduled for later this
   month in Paris.

   With a final decision ahead, some experts warn the stakes are high for
   Pakistan to be placed in the black list given the country's lack of
   notable progress on key demands of the FATF.

   "Since no major decisions are made until October, Islamabad must know
   that no matter what happened in Bangkok, it's not out of the woods
   yet." Michael Kugleman, deputy director of South Asia Program at the
   Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center, said.

   "It's hard to know what transpired in Bangkok, or whether it helped or
   hindered Pakistan's prospects for getting relief at the important Paris
   meeting in October," Kugleman added.

   A 15-member Pakistani delegation led by the Minister for Economic
   Affairs Division Mohammad Hammad Azhar met with the APG in Bangkok to
   evaluate Islamabad's progress.

   The outcome of the evaluation has yet to be disclosed by the APG,
   although Indian media outlets speculated that Pakistan fared poorly in
   the evaluation and is headed toward blacklisting.

   Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi denied those claims,
   however, brushing them aside as "Indian propaganda."

   "FATF has not placed Pakistan on the blacklist! The world needs to take
   notice of Indian propaganda and fake news," Qureshi said in response to
   the media reports.

   Pakistan's stance

   Pakistan continues to defend its efforts of combating terror groups and
   their financial networks, emphasizing it takes quite seriously FATF
   requirements and the fight against terrorism.

   "The Pakistan delegation effectively presented Pakistan's progress on
   each of the FATF action plan items and provided additional
   information/clarification to the APG-Joint Group," Hammad Azhar,
   Pakistan's minister for the Economic Affairs Division, said following
   APG's meeting in Bangkok.

   More recently, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan criticized India
   for working against Pakistan at FATF and charged that his nation has
   dismantled militant groups operating on its soil.

   "The moment the election ended, we approached India. No response. But
   then we discovered they were trying to push us in the FAFT blacklist to
   bankrupt us. That's when we realized there was an agenda." Khan stated
   in his address at the UNGA.

.