Wary Pakistan wants India's removal from key FATF panel

 Islamabad,  Mar 10 (PTI) Pakistan, wary of being blacklisted by the Financial  Action Task Force, has urged it to remove India from the co-chair of a  body that is reviewing Islamabad's progress on the implementation of an  action plan to combat terrorism.
     The Paris-based global body is  working to curb terrorism financing and money laundering and has asked  Pakistan to reassess the operation of banned terrorist outfits in the  country. Pakistan is under intense international pressure to rein in  terror groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) after the Pulwama terror  attack.
     In June last year, the Financial Action Task Force  (FATF) had placed Pakistan on the grey list of countries whose domestic  laws are considered weak to tackle the challenges of money laundering  and terrorism financing.
     Pakistan Finance Minister Asad Umar  wrote to FATF President Marshall Billingslea to appoint any other member  as co-chair of the Asia-Pacific's Joint Group, in place of India, to  ensure that the FATF review process is fair, unbiased and objective,  said the Ministry of Finance on Saturday.
     The Joint Group is a  sub-body of the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) of the  Asia Pacific Group (APG). Pakistan is a member of the APG and its case  is being presented before the FATF by the APG. India's Financial  Intelligence Unit's (FIU) director general is the co-chair of the Joint  Group, the Express Tribune reported.
     "India's animosity towards  Pakistan is well known and the recent violation of Pakistan's airspace  and dropping of bombs inside Pakistani territory is another  manifestation of India's hostile attitude," it quoted Umar as writing to  Billingslea while seeking removal of India.
     "Pakistan will also  lobby with the friendly countries to get India removed from the  co-chair of the Joint Group after New Delhi abused its position in the  last FATF meeting," Umar told the newspaper.
     "India submitted a separate dossier against Pakistan that undermined the FATF's neutrality," he said.
     India recently submitted a dossier to Pakistan on the role of JeM in the Pulwama terror attack.
      On Saturday, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said  that India will remain resolute in its determination to persuade the  international community of the necessity of compelling Pakistan to move  beyond mere words and to show credible, verifiable and sustained actions  against terror groups in the country.
     The finance minister said  Pakistan would not boycott the FATF process but will use every  available avenue to make sure that India no more politicises the global  body.
     Because of India's move, the FATF did not express satisfaction on the implementation of the action plan.
      In his letter, Umar referred to a statement regarding the efforts for  global isolation of Pakistan and India's call for the blacklisting of  Pakistan during the ICRG meeting on February 18, which demonstrated  Indian intentions to hurt Pakistan’s economic interests.
     The  FATF has asked Pakistan to properly demonstrate that it has a better  understanding of risks posed by proscribed organisations operating from  its soil.
     Umar has written the letter about two months before  the Joint Group would review implementation on over 15 points of the  agreed Action Plan. The Joint Group meeting is scheduled to take place  in May in Sri Lanka. After that, the FATF Plenary meeting will be held  in the United States in June this year, the report said.
     Pakistan is again anticipating tough Indian opposition during May and June meetings, the report said.
      "Given the clear Indian motivation to hurt Pakistan's economic  interests, Indian presence among the evaluators and as co-chair of the  Joint Group would undermine the impartiality and spirit of the ‘peer  review’ process, which lies at the heart of FATF’s methodology and  objective assessment," Umar wrote.
     The minister said Pakistan  firmly believes that India's involvement in the ICRG process will not be  fair towards Pakistan and urged that FATF appoint another country as  co-chair of the Joint Group instead of India to ensure an impartial  assessment of Pakistan's progress in regard to the FATF action plan.
      The minister assured the FATF president that "Pakistan remains firm in  its commitment to work with FATF/ICRG and the Joint Group and to  implement the action plan" and demanded that "FATF must take steps to  ensure that the ICRG process is fair, unbiased and impartial towards  Pakistan".
     Although Pakistan has taken up the issue of Indian  attempts to politicise the FATF, it also needs to strengthen the  National Counter Terrorism Authority and the Financial Monitoring Unit  to present a strong case in the next FATF and ICRG meetings, the report  said.
     There is also a need to strengthen the institutional  capacity of the FMU by appointing people who have a background in  handling the AML and Counter-Terrorism Financing issues.
     So far,  most of the staff comprises people who have come on deputation from the  State Bank of Pakistan, the country's central bank. The FMU also needs  to be equipped to tackle challenges posed by the flow of black money  from the non-banking financial sector, the report said. PTI AKJ  MRJ