Govt expresses concern over India’s bid to ‘downgrade’ Pakistan on FATF list

ISLAMABAD: The government expressed deep concern over India’s intention to have “Pakistan downgraded on the FATF list”, Foreign Office (FO) said on Friday.

The FO said the statement made by the Indian Finance Minister yesterday, to relegate the South Asian giant on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list, “re-confirms Pakistan’s longstanding concerns that this technical forum is being politicized by India against Pakistan.”

In a press release issued on Friday, the foreign office highlighted that, “India has made several efforts in the past as well to politicize 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” the country, the press release read.

“On several previous occasions, calculated leaks were made to the Indian media about the proceedings of FATF, which are strictly confidential.”

These instances of politicization by India were brought to the attention of the President of FATF by the Finance Minister of Pakistan, the FO added.

India’s attempts to politicize the proceedings of the international forum 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 ministry remarked.

Pakistan remains committed to fully implementing the FATF Action Plan, the FO assured, adding that this commitment was made at the highest political level.

However, Pakistani government also urged that, “FATF must ensure that the process remains fair, unbiased and firmly grounded in the technical criteria of the forum.”