India politicising, undermining FATF spirit: Hammad Azhar

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar Monday said India was ‘actively’ engaged in politicising and undermining the technical processes and spirit of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

“Our progress is nevertheless undeniable and we shall soon be completing our both action plans,” he said in a tweet.

Hammad said the statement of Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar only confirmed what Pakistan had been saying all along.

On July 18, Jaishankar had admitted that the Narendra Modi government ensured that Pakistan remained on the grey list of FATF.

Earlier today, the Foreign Office said it was considering to approach the FATF president for an appropriate action against India after its confessions of politicising the forum.

“Following the recent confession by the Indian government, India’s credentials for assessing Pakistan in FATF as co-chair of the Joint Group or for that matter any other country are subject to questions, which we urge FATF to look into,” the Foreign Office Spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Pakistan had consistently maintained that India had politicised the FATF and “the recent Indian statements made clear their malintent.”

“Manipulating an important technical forum for narrow political designs against Pakistan is disgraceful but not surprising for the Modi government,” the foreign minister said in a tweet.

Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry in response to the queries by media persons on India’s disagreeable role in the FATF greylisting of Pakistan, said that “the Indian statement not only exposes its true colours, but also vindicates Pakistan’s longstanding stance on India’s negative role in FATF”.

The FO Spokesperson mentioned that Pakistan had always been highlighting to the international community the politicisation of FATF and undermining of its processes by India.

“The recent Indian statement is just further corroboration of its continued efforts to use an important technical forum for its narrow political designs against Pakistan,” he said.

The spokesperson said while Pakistan has been sincerely and constructively engaged with the FATF during the implementation of the Action Plan, “India had left no stone unturned in casting doubts on Pakistan’s progress through disgraceful means”.

“Pakistan has been exposing India’s duplicitous role to the international community in the past and it will also bring this recent confession by India to the notice of FATF and the broader international community,” he said.

The spokesperson said Pakistan’s immense progress in Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorism Financing (CTF) domain demonstrated through concrete, tangible and verifiable actions had been openly acknowledged by FATF.

“We are resolved to sustain this momentum and trajectory with the support and cooperation of our international partners. India’s delusions of putting pressure on Pakistan have always remained unfulfilled and would never see the light of day,” he said.

The FO spokesperson said despite distractions including the politicisation of the FATF processes by certain jurisdictions, Pakistan reaffirmed its commitment to bring its AML/CFT systems to international standards for its own good and also to fulfill its international obligations and commitments.