FATF must walk the talk on terror financing activities of Pakistan

IT’s been worth the wait for India. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global watchdog for money laundering and terror financing activities, has finally condemned the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. The FATF has stated that such incidents “could not occur without money and the means to move funds between terrorist supporters”. For the record, the watchdog had used the same words while condemning the Pulwama suicide bombing in February 2019. What’s different this time is its declaration that “state-sponsored terrorism” will be part of its upcoming report on terror financing cases.

After the Pahalgam carnage, India has raised the pitch for putting Pakistan back on the FATF grey list, which will severely limit its access to international loans. The neighbour was removed from this list in 2022 after it managed to convince the watchdog that it was improving its system to combat money laundering and terror financing. Last month, New Delhi protested in vain as Islamabad secured a $1-billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Though the support package came with a slew of new conditions, the IMF’s contention that Pakistan had made “satisfactory progress” in meeting its targets raised many eyebrows.

Operation Sindoor laid bare Pakistan’s ploy of camouflaging terror camps as health centres or schools to evade detection and bypass sanctions from global organisations. Pakistan will inevitably play the victim card, citing a threat from India, but it’s for the FATF to see through its nefarious designs. Pakistan has increased its defence budget by 20 per cent, but that doesn’t mean the money will be spent entirely on enhancing national security. Regular monitoring of expenditure is a must to detect any misuse of funds. India must push the global watchdog to walk the talk on dismantling financing networks that fuel terror attacks. The FATF must insist on transparency to ensure that Pakistan doesn’t get away with its tricks all over again.

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