-FM predicts Pakistan would have been on white list if FATF decided on technical grounds
-Says govt implemented the FATF Action Plan expeditiously
-Forecasts Pakistan will be affected if the situation worsens in Afghanistan
DM Monitoring
MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday said that some powers including India have been using Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for political motives/aims.
Talking to media in Multan on Sunday, he said that Pakistan was placed in the grey list during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) regime, however, the incumbent government has implemented the FATF action plan expeditiously.
He said out of its 27 targets, 26 have been implemented and now there was no justification for putting Pakistan on the grey list.
Mr. Qureshi has once again raised fingers on FATF’s decision against removing Pakistan from the grey list and said that if it was a technical decision then the country would have been added to the white list.
“Now FATF members and the world has to decide if it is a technical or a politically motivated forum,” he said while addressing media in Multan.
The foreign minister said that even FATF members have admitted that Pakistan has shown compliance on 26 out of 27 points of the action plan from the anti-money laundering watchdog.
He rejected that the PTI government is responsible for the inclusion of Pakistan on the FATF grey list and said that it was during PML-N’s tenure when the country was added to the list. “Rather during our tenure, we amended 14 laws and introduced some new ones to show compliance on FATF action plan,” Shah Mahmood Qureshi said.
Regarding situation in Afghanistan, the foreign minister said that the decision to withdraw US troops has been made, however, the growing tension there is a cause for concern. “Pakistan will be affected if the situation worsens in Afghanistan,” Qureshi said and added there are 3 million refugees in Pakistan, they cannot bear any more burden.
