India will lobby hard to blacklist Pakistan at Paris meet

India will push to blacklist Pakistan over terrorism funding at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary meeting, following the attack in Pulwama last week, as part of a number of economic punitive measures it’s taking against the neighbouring country.

Being put on the blacklist will further hit Pakistan’s struggling economy. Pakistan is currently on the FATF grey list. The meeting is scheduled to take place on February 17-22 in Paris.

Pakistan was placed on the FATF grey list in June 2018 and put on notice to be blacklisted by October 2019 if it did not curb money laundering and terror financing. The FATF meet will review the measures taken by Pakistan in this regard, said people with knowledge of the matter.

Delhi has meanwhile received widespread support on the issue of Pakistan’s role in cross-border terror attacks on Indian soil, including the Pulwama strike, at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) and in various meetings on the sidelines of the key annual conclave in the German city.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the recent terror attack that killed more than 40 CRPF jawans.

FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 by the ministers of its member jurisdictions. Its objectives are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terror financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

The FATF comprises 36 countries and two regional organisations. The current chair of FATF is the US and the vice president is China.