Islamabad on Friday expressed deep concern over Indian finance minister’s statement about New Delhi’s intention to have Pakistan downgraded on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list.
“The Indian minister’s statement re-confirms Pakistan’s longstanding concerns that this technical forum is being politicised by India against Pakistan,” said a statement issued by the Foreign Office.
The Foreign Office said that India has made several efforts in the past as well to politicise 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 were otherwise strictly confidential,” the Foreign Office said. “These instances of politicisation by India have been brought to the attention of the FATF president by the finance minister of Pakistan,” it added.
“India’s attempts to politicise 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,” the statement observed. “Pakistan remains committed to fully implementing the FATF action plan. This commitment has been made at the highest political level,” it continued. “However, FATF must ensure that the process remains fair, unbiased and firmly grounded in the technical criteria of the forum,” it demanded.
Citing ‘animosity’ towards Pakistan, Islamabad had in March approached FATF President Marshall Billingslea seeking India’s removal as co-chair of the Asia-Pacific Group to ensure that process remains fair, unbiased and objective. Then finance minister Asad Umar had revealed at the time that friendly countries had confirmed to Pakistan that the Indian co-chair of APG was lobbying with other countries to get Pakistan blacklisted.
