ISLAMABAD: Confir­ming that Pakis­tan would be on Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) ‘grey list’ in June, the Foreign Office on Wednesday said Islamabad would strive to overcome the shortcomings in its counter-illicit financing regime.

“Pakistan will be assigned to the ‘grey list’ in June, once an action plan has been mutually negotiated,” FO spokesman Dr Muhammad Faisal said at the weekly media briefing.

It was the first official confirmation that the FATF had at its last plenary session held on Feb 21-23 in Paris decided to place Pakistan in the category of jurisdictions monitored by the FATF’s International Cooperation Review Group, commonly known as the grey list.

The confusion about Pakistan’s status was because the publicly shared outcomes of the FATF remained silent on the country’s nomination for the grey list by the United States, Britain, France and Germany.

Expresses concern over development of drones by India

The FO spokesman said Pakistan and the FATF would now mutually negotiate the ‘action plan’. He rejected a perception that Pakistan would be transferred from the ‘grey’ to ‘black’ list in June this year. “The FATF website clearly demarcates the countries in ‘black’ list as those who are non-cooperative,” he said.

Pakistan, it is believed, may be considered for black list if it does not cooperate in negotiating the action plan.

Dr Faisal recalled the steps that Pakistan had taken over the past few years to address international concerns. The steps taken by Pakistan included legislation, issuance of regulations and guidelines by the State Bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan to the financial sector, establishment of the Financial Monitoring Unit and implementation of UNSC 1267 sanctions on the entities of concern, specifically Jamaatud Dawa and Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation.

“We will take further actions for addressing any remaining deficiencies,” the spokesman underscored.

It is not clear how long it could take Pakistan to get out of the grey list. Similarly, there is an ongoing debate on the implications of listing for Pakistan. It is generally believed that it can affect international banking transactions, investment and cost of doing business in the country.

Signals from US

The FO spokesman, while commenting on the statements coming from US officials, said: “We continue to get differing signals from different parts of the US government.”

Centcom Commander Gen Votel had in a testimony before a US House of Representatives panel on Tuesday mentioned the “positive indicators from Pakistan”.

Meanwhile, US National Security Council official Lisa Curtis, who visited Islamabad earlier this week, talked about continuing presence of Haqqani network and other terror sanctuaries on Pakistani soil and the deficiencies in Pakistan’s counter-illicit financing regime.

“Pakistan has made immense efforts to address issues related to counterterrorism. We continue to ask the US for actionable evidence,” Dr Faisal said.

He said Ms Curtis’ visit was part of regular and continuous engagement between Pakistan and the US.

“The main agenda of the meeting of the foreign secretary with Ms Curtis was to exchange views and understand each other’s perspective on how to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan. Both sides have a desire to work together to pursue our common objective of stabilising Afghanistan,” he added.

He also reminded about the bilateral dialogue that was taking place outside the public glare.

The FO spokesman expressed concern over India developing drones.

India had last Sunday tested combat Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Rustom-II.

“India’s development of drone technology is worrying when seen in the larger context of its buildup and expansion of military capabilities in the conventional and non-conventional domains, which are subjecting regional strategic stability to increasing strain,” Dr Faisal said.

In reply to a question about the Federal Investigation Agency reaching out to Interpol for issuance of red warrants against former ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani, he said it was being done on the Supreme Court’s order.

“The FIA is taking necessary action to implement the directives of the Supreme Court. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will provide whatever assistance it can, as far as coordination with the US authorities is concerned,” he maintained.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2018