Pakistan finds itself stuck in FATF’s grey list for one of three reasons, quite obviously. One, it is trying to do what it can to make progress – a fact acknowledged by the watchdog itself – and is unable to get it perfectly right; hence the one or two points that remain unaddressed each time. Two, it appears as if it is trying to clamp down on terror-funding, etc, but is not really doing so; as our friends across the eastern border never fail to mention whenever the review comes up every few months. And three, Pakistan is doing exactly what is expected of it but political considerations in capitals that such agencies take cue from are keeping us tied down.
The Pakistani government’s position, though not yet officially reconfirmed this time around, is a mixture of two of the above three scenarios. Islamabad believes that it has sincerely implemented all the changes and enacted all the necessary legislation, but interest groups backed by India continue to lobby against us; clearly with a lot of success. The question then arises about how the government plans to deal with this deadlock. If India has enough influence to keep the agency in its clutches, regardless of its broad member-base, for so long then it is clearly playing a card that we cannot match. In most cases it is India’s market and the inability of most capitals to ignore its pull that leads to decisions at international forms that tend to isolate Pakistan.
There’s no way of knowing such things for sure, of course, but Islamabad clearly sees enough out there to put two and two together and find the answer pointing a finger at New Delhi. Ordinarily the best way out of such sticky positions is mutually beneficial dialogue. That is, after all, the way of democracies. But since the Indian side has ruled out any possibility of adopting such a course, the only thing left to do is expose its sinister designs before the international community. When quizzed about this the FATF spokesman chose not to give a direct reply, and only said that decisions were made after consultation, but in effect all he had to do to say yes was stay quiet; which is exactly what he did. The next review is in February next year. And now that we have done more or less all that was needed, perhaps we should change our approach somewhat and make our concerns known as well.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/832325/the-fatf-disappointment/
