On Wednesday, the Islamabad Policy Research Institute held a seminar on “Deconstructing FATF through a Legal Lens”, with a panel of distinguished speakers.

According to Iqbal Khan, Director-General Intelligence for the Federal Bureau of Revenue, “Cash smuggling and related terror financing compliance measures have been significantly addressed by Pakistan”.

He added that Pakistan has come up with a very robust coordination mechanism between the law enforcement agencies and other relevant authorities, with the scope of the Joint Investigation Teams being enhanced to include teams on terror financing cases.

Speaking on Pakistan’s progress on anti-money laundering issues, Noor Fatima, a Research Associate at RSIL, mentioned that Pakistan has passed fifteen laws including major changes into our anti-money laundering legislative framework.

Fatima added that the banking sector was regulated, role of NAB was enhanced and penalties were made more stringent” she added. Assessing the impact of grey-listing on Pakistan’s international image, Dr Huma Baqai noted that FATF grey-list is an impediment to Pakistan’s economic growth.

Arguing if FATF list is politically motivated, Ali Sultan stated “The structure of international law allows the space for it to be used for political purposes, such as in the case of FATF”.

He added that if FATF is to maintain its credibility, it should very seriously consider including India under enhanced watch-list to address the money laundering and terror financing emanating from India.

While discussing the future lessons for Pakistan, Hassan Aslam Shad, articulated that there is a need of centralized body to coordinate efforts on FATF, ensuring inter-agency coordination for the implementation of measures.