Daily Times

India is pressing for Pakistan to be kept on a terrorism financing watchlist following an attack in Held Kashmir, three Indian government officials said on Thursday.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global body created to counter terrorism financing and money laundering, has been meeting in Paris this week and Pakistan has been hoping to get off a ‘grey list’ of nations with inadequate controls over such activities.

But two Indian government officials dealing with the issue said new information has been provided to the FATF relating to Pakistan after the car bombing last week in the Pulwama district of occupied valley in which 40 paramilitary police were killed.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the attack. A third Indian official said details relating to the militant group’s operations were provided to the FATF. “It was a post-Pulwama brief,” said one of the officials when asked about the information provided to the watchdog. The officials declined to be named as the talks were still underway in Paris.

Pakistan has been on the grey list since June. While there are no direct legal implications from being on the list, it brings extra scrutiny from regulators and financial institutions that can chill trade and investment and increase transaction costs, experts say.

Pakistan’s finance ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The FATF said it would release the results of its review after a meeting of the group’s decision-making body. “We will publish the outcomes from the meeting, including our updated statements identifying high-risk and other monitored jurisdictions, at the end of the meeting, on Friday afternoon,” Alexandra Wijmenga-Daniel, FATF communications management advisor, said in an email.

Over 800 officials from global multilateral bodies including the IMF, World Bank are in Paris for the six-day FATF gathering.

Published in Daily Times, February 22^nd 2019.