India reacted to media queries on Pakistan's removal from the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Friday. India said that the world should remain clear that Pakistan must continue to take 'credible, verifiable and irreversible' action against terrorism. Pakistan was removed from FATF's increased monitoring list after four years.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "It is in global interest that the world remains clear that Pakistan must continue to take credible, verifiable, irreversible and sustained action against terrorism and terrorist financing emanating from territories under its control." He was replying to media queries on the issue.
"As a result of FATF scrutiny, Pakistan has been forced to take some action against well-known terrorists, including those involved in attacks against the entire international community in Mumbai on 26/11," Bagchi said. He added, "We understand that Pakistan will continue to work with the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) to further improve its Anti Money Laundering (AML) /Counter Terror Financing (CFT) system."
Pakistan has been taken off the 'grey list' in the wake of Islamabad's "high level political commitment" in dealing with the menace and carrying out reforms in its existing monitoring mechanism, according to the watchdog. The decision was taken by the FATF in its plenary held in Paris on October 20-21.
Later at a virtual press conference, FATF president T Raja Kumar, who is from Singapore, said Pakistan has largely addressed all the 34 items given by the FATF. However, he said, Pakistan still needs to continue to work in this regard and the FATF encourages Pakistan to cooperate with the FATF's Asia Pacific Group to combat financial terrorism and money laundering.
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