The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global watchdog to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, is expected to announce today (Friday) whether Pakistan will be removed or retained from its enhanced watch list, which is called ” Also known as the “Grey List”. But the government hopes that the result will be in favor of the country.
The four-day plenary session began on Tuesday in Berlin, Germany. According to the watchdog, FATF officials will hold a press conference at 7:30 pm today to share the outcome of the session. Website,
Delegates representing 206 FATF members and observers are attending the plenary session. Observers include the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations, the World Bank and the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units.
Reading: There and again – a timeline of Pakistan’s unfortunate ‘grey listing’ by FATF
diplomatic sources first Told dawn That China and some other allies are working quietly to get Pakistan out of the gray list during the latest plenary session.
Recent reports in the international media have also referred to this “quiet lobbying” led by China, and an Indian media outlet reported that the plenary session is “likely to decide to take Pakistan out of the list of countries that , commonly known as the Gray List”.
Several politicians, mostly from PTI, and journalists posted on social media today that the FATF has removed Pakistan from the gray list. However, Minister of State for External Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar, who is Pakistan delegation led In Berlin, cautioned that results and speculative reporting should be avoided.
He pointed out that the plenary meeting was still underway and the FATF would issue a statement tonight following their conclusion.
He said that a press conference in this regard will be held in the Ministry of External Affairs on Saturday (tomorrow).
government spokesperson Told BBC Urdu According to the information available at the moment, the result was expected to be in favor of Pakistan. However, he clarified that even if the country is taken off the list, it will take seven to eight months to “settle the matters”.
The spokesman said that in case Pakistan is dropped from the list, a FATF team will visit the country, so it “satisfies itself that the work on its recommendations has been completed”.
Pakistan is on the gray list since June 2018.
sources told dawn That the April 9 verdict of the Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore can also help Pakistan remove this stigma. Court was sent Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed jailed for 33 years on terrorism charges.
Those who support the move to remove Pakistan from the list point out that the two cases in which he was imprisoned were filed by Pakistan’s counter-terrorism department.
In its last plenary session held in Paris in March, the FATF noted that “Pakistan has completed 26 of the 27 work items in its 2018 Action Plan”. The FATF encouraged Pakistan to “address, as soon as possible, one remaining item, – investigations into the financing of terrorism and targeting of senior leaders and commanders of terrorist groups designated by the United Nations”.
The FATF acknowledged that Pakistan had asked in June 2021 to follow six of the seven action plans to combat money laundering.
For the latest plenary session, the Ministry of External Affairs had prepared a presentation for the FATF plenary session, showing how Pakistan had completed all 27 tasks that were assigned to it.