FATF may blacklist Pakistan due to India lobbying: Qureshi

TIL Desk/World/Lahore/ Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) could blacklist the country due to “lobbying by India” and that Islamabad would face $10 billion loss annually if it remained in the watchdog’s grey list.

The inter-governmental body which combats money laundering and terror financing among other things had last year placed Pakistan in the grey list of countries deemed non-compliant with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regulations.

“The Foreign Office is calculating the annual loss if Pakistan is pushed in the black list by the FATF as India is lobbying for this,” Foreign Minister Qureshi told reporters in Lahore. He said the government has calculated that Pakistan will face $10 billion loss annually if it remains in the grey list.

In February, the Paris-based watchdog condemned the Pulwama terror attack claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) that killed 40 CRPF troopers and said “Pakistan did not have proper understanding of the terror financing risks posed by the Islamic State, Al Qaeda, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Falah-e-Insaniat, Lashkar-e-Taiba, JeM, (Haqqani Network) and persons affiliated with the Taliban.