ISLAMABAD: Adviser to prime minister on finance Miftah Ismail responding to the possible inclusion of Pakistan on the terrorist financing watchlist has claimed that Pakistan is being made a “target of politics” at the ongoing meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
In an interview to a private TV channel, Ismail said Pakistan was made a “target of politics” despite the country’s tangible efforts to crack down on money laundering and terror financing.
“What do [they] want? They just want to humiliate Pakistan. Pakistan is not a big money launderer,” he said.
“If they were bothered about terror financing, they would work with us, they would see how much we have done and [what more] we will do till June,” the adviser continued.
Earlier on Friday, there were reports of Pakistan’s inclusion in the list, with Reuters quoting sources that Pakistan has been placed on the FATF list. “A global money-laundering watchdog [FATF] has decided to place Pakistan back on its terrorist financing watchlist,” the news agency said.
After the conclusion of the task force’s plenary session, the FATF spokesperson added that the FATF was not responsible for reports which claimed Pakistan’s inclusion in the list. She said: “A final decision will come after the meeting reviewing the matter concludes.
The FATF session in Paris, which concluded on Friday, was being held to review proposals that include putting Pakistan back on a list of countries which have failed to prevent terrorist financing. The United States (US) and Britain had put forward a motion to place Pakistan on the FATF terrorist-financing watch list. If adopted, the resolution would place Pakistan on the FATF’s grey-list.
Responding to the reports, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal denied the report, saying that the official FATF decision still has to come, therefore “we should not speculate till official statement is released”.
