‘Time Is Up’: Russia Tells Pakistan To Take Concrete Steps To Avoid FATF Blacklisting
Russia's warning came during the eighth Russia-Pakistan joint working group of counter-terrorism in Moscow on November 12
Islamabad: Russia has strongly reprimanded Pakistan for its go-slow on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) directives on terror-financing.
Russia has said that while Pakistan has achieved progress, it's "time is up" and Islamabad needs to take measures to avoid being in the 2020 blacklist. And time is running out as the blacklist will be readied in February next year, sources said.
Pakistan is currently in the grey list. The FATF has been directing Pakistan to ensure terror-financing for groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Lashkar-e-Taiba come to an end, in an effort to reduce their strength.
Russia's warning came during the eighth Russia-Pakistan joint working group of counter-terrorism in Moscow on November 12. During the meeting, the Russian side, headed by Vladimir Tarabrin, pointed out that while Russia did not support the blacklisting the previous time, the need to take active measures has come to avoid being blacklisted. The Pakistan side was led by Ahmad Farooq.
The other warning related to the presence of ISIS activities in Pakistan. The focus of ISIS activities, sources said, is shifting to Pakistan and other south Asian countries. Clearly, Pakistan has to take action and Russia has offered Pakistan help from its international anti-terror database.
The situation in Afghanistan is also difficult. In the past, the international community have spoken out about the safe havens for the Taliban and the Haqqani Network terrorists in Pakistan in the North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan. During the meeting, the Russian side pointed out that the ISIS was regrouping in Afghanistan and the total number of foreign terrorists in the country was now about 4,000.
Meanwhile, Russia has denied a visa to PoK 'President' Masood Khan. He was to visit Russia between November 26 and 30. This is, once again, very clear support to India's position on PoK.
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