Special Advisor to PM for Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan on Saturday hit out at arch rival India saying that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recognition of Pakistan’s efforts squashed India ‘dream to blacklist Pakistan.’
“The recognition of Pakistan’s efforts at FATF is good news for the country and bad news for its enemies. We thank iron brother China for their support to Pakistan,” said Awan, in a series of tweets. She added that the India’s dreams to see Pakistan on the FATF ‘blacklist’ failed as well.
“Pakistan is a responsible state, we have made great sacrifices in the fight against terrorism. FATF members praised Pakistan's commitment to fulfill the remaining goals, which is a testimony to Pakistan's efforts,” added Awan.
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— Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan (@Dr_FirdousPTI) February 22, 2020
It may be mentioned that Indian media reported on February 20 that China had agreed to join India and other countries in sending a strong message to Pakistan and urging it to fulfill commitment to fight terror financing and money laundering before the plenary session in June.
The report claimed that this symbolized a major shift in China's position since it had been a staunch supporter for Pakistan within the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Meanwhile, outcome of the FATF Plenary February 19-21 meeting noted that to date, Pakistan has largely addressed 14 of 27 action items, with varying levels of progress made on the rest of the action plan. The FATF strongly urges Pakistan to swiftly complete its full action plan by June 2020.
The FATF highlighted the need for taking further actions for completing the Action Plan by June 2020. The FATF members agreed to maintain Pakistan's status on compliance document, normally described as the ‘Grey List'.