Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the international watchdog on terror financing and money laundering, has removed Pakistan from the list of countries under “increased monitoring” (Grey List).
- India’s other neighbour on the grey list, Myanmar, was moved to the “black list” due to actions by the military leadership after the 2021 coup.
.png)
- FATF is the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog. It also aims to counter the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
- It was set up in 1989 out of a G-7 meeting of developed nations in Paris.
- Its Secretariat is located at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) headquarters in Paris.
- As of today, it is a 39-member body with 37 countries and two regional organisations: the European Commission, and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
- Indonesia is the only observer country of FATF.
- India joined with ‘observer’ status in 2006 and became a full member of FATF in 2010.
- India is also a member of its regional partners, the Asia Pacific Group (APG) and the Eurasian Group (EAG).
- ATF’s Stand: The FATF lauded “Pakistan’s significant progress” saying that the country had completed two action plans comprising a 34-point tasklist in the period since 2018.
- Pakistan has been removed from the list after four years. It was first put on the list in 2008, removed in 2009 and before adding it again in 2018, it remained under increased monitoring from 2012 to 2015.
- India’s Response: India has protested Pakistan’s lack of action against cross-border terror groups responsible for attacks on India, however, it agreed to the decision to take Pakistan off the list, as the latter had submitted “documentary evidence” of its actions against designated terrorists.
- India believes that Pakistan must continue to take “credible, verifiable, irreversible and sustainable” action against terror groups emanating from territories under its control.