Efforts afoot to thwart 'grey list' move

Pakistan has launched diplomatic offensive for seeking support of friendly countries to avert a possible move aimed at putting the country on the 'grey list' of the Financial Action Task Force (TATF).
An in-camera session of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, chaired by Khusro Bakhtyar on Friday, was briefed by Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua about the government of Pakistan's efforts and lobbying with member countries of the TATF to avert a possible putting Pakistan on its watch list - grey list - next week.
A diplomatic source told Business Recorder that different federal ministers including Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, Adviser on Finance Miftah Ismail and Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal have been sent to various member and friendly countries in the 37-member TATF to apprise them of Pakistan's comprehensive action plan to check money laundering and terror financing.
"The tremendous pressure on Pakistan is solely to undermine our independent and robust foreign policy. If this [foreign policy] is the reason to pressure Pakistan, we are ready to pay the price," he contended. To a question, he said that it needs four to five votes of the FATF members to break the consensus on an application tabled for a vote.
He further said that the concerned Pakistan's missions in the capitals of the member states are also in touch with the concerned high authorities to present before them Pakistan's comprehensive measures.
On January 20, 2018, the US and the UK jointly submitted a letter to the FATF, nominating Pakistan for placement in the 'Grey List' while France and Germany subsequently joined this nomination.
It would be followed by another step of placing the country in 'Black List'. At present, only two countries, Iran and North Korea, are on the FATF "Black List," the source added.
Briefing reporters after the proceedings of the in-camera session of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Khusro Bakhtyar said that the Foreign Office updated the committee on the efforts being undertaken by Pakistan by sending ministers to various member countries to appraise them of Pakistan's effective Anti-Money Laundering/ and Combating Financing of Terrorism [AML/CFT] framework.
He said the committee expressed serious concern over the move jointly initiated by the US and the UK by violating its rules and practices without evaluating Pakistan's comprehensive enforcement actions submitted in a latest report to the Asia Pacific Group (APG) for monitoring of compliance with FATF standards.
He said the comprehensive enforcement actions undertaken by the government of Pakistan to address the residuary concern regarding implementation of UNSCR 1267 sanctions on some entities, namely Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), have been submitted to APG on January 06, 2018.
"We are hopeful that the FATF members and the international community should take into account Pakistan's huge sacrifices in terms of human and economic losses while voting on the application next week," Bakhtyar added.
To a question about the consequences Pakistan has to face following its placement on the FATF's gray list, he said that the committee has decided to call finance secretary in its next meeting to brief the panel on the aftermaths of any such development.
He said the parliamentary panel discussed in detail the government's decision to send troops to Saudi Arabia and called foreign minister to brief the committee in its next meeting.
He said though the committee was informed that the decision to send the troops for train-and-advise-mission to Saudi Arabia was under the 1982 bilateral defense agreement, the committee felt it necessary that the foreign minister should brief it about the development.
To another question, he said the committee was also briefed about Pakistan's engagement with the US at various levels, adding that Pakistan wants to remain engaged with the US.
On Afghanistan, he said the committee was informed that successful talks have been held with the Afghan authorities recently both in Kabul and Islamabad and the two sides want to continue the discussions.
He said that a few things need further discussion for complete convergence, as the recent Afghan delegation led by the country's deputy foreign minister sought mandate from his government in Kabul for further commitments.