Pakistan is hoping for some reprieve as the international watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) begins meetings on Monday in Berlin ahead of its plenary session on June 14-17. Announcing the meeting, the FATF secretariat said that delegates would discuss “the progress made by some jurisdictions identified as presenting a risk to the financial system”, referring to entities on the grey list including Pakistan and 22 other countries.
According to media reports in Pakistan, the new Pakistani PMLN-led government is pulling out all stops in sending its Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar to lead the delegation this week that will make Pakistan’s case for being taken off the “grey list” of countries of “jurisdictions under increased monitoring”, four years after it was brought back on the list in June 2018.
In particular, government sources quoted in the reports on Aaj and ARY media networks indicate that Pakistan is confident it has “completed” its task list, particularly after the sentencing of Lashkar-e-Toiba chief Hafiz Saeed in April 2022 for a term of 32 years, adding to a previous term of 36 on several counts of terrorism and terror financing.
