Financial Action Task Force (FATF) & Pakistan: Commitments, Compulsions & Challenges

Pakistan’s engagement with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is restricted by 3 Cs': commitments, compulsions, and challenges. In addition to Pakistan’s coordination with the FATF on institutional measures, operational measures including the 27-point Action Plan given by FATF to Pakistan, are also a compulsion. In this backdrop, understanding the challenge of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, is an uphill task for both Pakistan and the international community. This paper is an attempt to investigate these provocations while discussing the objectives of the establishment of FATF. Pakistan’s relations with the FATF and its compliance with the required limitations are also explored in details. Overall, there are three questions addressed: (1) Why is Pakistan caught up in a complex and discriminatory web of international rules and, if yes, how to get out of the situation? (2) How can Pakistan come out of FATF imbroglio? Already, Pakistan’s Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Regime and National Action Plan (NAP) has clearly, set a narrative regarding terror-financing, heads of terrorist organizations and role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). (3) Pakistan needs to deal with the remaining two points of the Action Plan demanded by FATF, at the earliest, and encourage proactive diplomacy if it desires to reform AML/CFT seriously, and get off from the grey-list. Financial Action Task Force (FATF) & Pakistan: Commitments….