ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistan on Friday expressed its deep concern over the statement made by the Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday about India’s intention to have “Pakistan downgraded on the FATF list”, the Dispatch News Desk (DND) news agency reported.
On Thursday, the Indian finance minister said that India would ask the global money laundering and terror finance watchdog – the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – to put Pakistan on a blacklist of countries that fail to meet international standards in stopping financial crime.
In a statement issued in Islamabad, the Foreign Office said that the Indian finance minister’s statement re-confirms Pakistan’s longstanding concerns that this technical forum is being politicized by India against Pakistan.
The Foreign Office said that India has made several efforts in the past as well to politicize the proceedings at FATF. Prior to the FATF plenary meeting in February 2019, India circulated its own assessment of Pakistan’s progress and solicited immediate support for “blacklisting” Pakistan. On several previous occasions, calculated leaks were made to the Indian media about the proceedings of FATF, which are strictly confidential.
These instances of politicization by India were brought to the attention of the President of FATF by the Finance Minister of Pakistan.
It father said that India’s attempts to politicize the proceedings in FATF against Pakistan call into question its credentials for co-chairing and being a member of the Asia Pacific Joint Group that reviews the progress made by Pakistan to implement the FATF Action Plan.
“Pakistan remains committed to fully implementing the FATF Action Plan. This commitment has been made at the highest political level. However, FATF must ensure that the process remains fair, unbiased and firmly grounded in the technical criteria of the forum,” the Foreign Office said.
