Ahead of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) crucial plenary meeting in Paris this week, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Monday said that Pakistan was “under pressure” because of the proceedings of the global watchdog for terror financing and money laundering.
“One of the biggest pressure that has come on Pakistan today is because of the proceedings of the FATF. The FATF has created so much pressure… If you (NIA and other investigating agencies) could collect correct information and sustainable information, you can put it up in the international forum and platforms effectively,” Doval said while speaking at the “Annual NIA Conference of Chiefs of ATS/STF”.
He said everybody knew that Pakistan is “supporting and financing terrorism”.
“But the point is that only evidence can be put in these (like FATF) forums. And it can be done by you because you understand the case and know how information can be converted into evidence.”
Doval asked the investigators across India to contribute, saying the NIA can “convert it into the evidence”.
Noting that “we are not targetting any particular country”, Doval said facts were still facts.
“Our duty is to put the fact at the right place and right forum. We should continue our efforts. So, depend on facts, preserve it and don’t destroy them. Put these pieces of evidence in the forums nationally and internationally.
“Even if we say that Pakistan is sponsoring terrorism, we need evidence. So, don’t destroy the evidence,” said Doval.
He also mentioned that there was no harm to share information with the media about the Pakistani people involved in terrorism by giving their identities and their plan.
“Keeping such information in only state jackets only benefits Pakistan… So by weeding out such strategies, we can defeat terrorism.”
The Asia-Pacific Group of the global watchdog for terror financing and money laundering, FATF, in a report on Monday said that Pakistan has been quietly unfreezing their accounts and not providing any information about what it is doing to ensure that the money does not go back into terrorist funding.
Islamabad has partially complied with 36 of the 40 parameters set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) at the time of the country’s inclusion in the grey list.
The long-awaited 228-page report, titled “Mutual Evaluation Report 2019” was published on Saturday, a week before the FATF is set to announce its decision to remove or retain Pakistan in its grey list.
The APG report stated that Pakistan “has not taken sufficient measures to fully implement UNSCR 1267 obligations against 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and other terrorists associated with LeT, JuD among other terror groups”.
“Pakistan did not take any actions to freeze the accounts of proscribed organisations during the period under review, with the exception of assets frozen for proscribed organisations that are also listed under UNSC Resolution 1267,” the report said.
Although the APG has recommended that Islamabad be downgraded to the blacklist due to its poor compliance on measures to tackle terror funding, the FATF is most likely to keep it in the grey list.
The FATF is currently headed by China and has Malaysia, Turkey as well as Saudi Arabia as its members. China, Malaysia and Turkey are most likely to vote against a downgrade for Pakistan.
China, Turkey and Malaysia have backed Pakistan at the recently concluded UNGA session over the Kashmir issue.
At the FATF meeting, it will require a minimum of three votes to prevent a blacklisting.