Pakistan Reups 'Masood Azhar Gone Missing' Claim To Get Off FATF Grey List: Report

To avoid global wrath over its abject failure in fight against terrorism, Pakistan is back with its old trick! To counter any punitive action by the FATF, Islamabad has once again started retelling an old lie about Jaish-e-Mohammed chief. The terror watchdog that commenced its crucial week-long panel discussion from February 16 will review its verdict on Pakistan. In order to get off the grey list, Pakistan has reportedly said that it couldn’t file an FIR or take any action against Masood Azhar as he had gone missing. India is likely to call out the doublespeak as highlight the fact that Masood Azhar has been operating freely for the Pakistani soil and has a tacit backing of Islamabad.

Here's everything you need to know about the global terrorist #MasoodAzhar who goes 'missing' before Pakistan's meeting with Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

📸: IANS Infographics

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Since the Pulwama terror attack, Pakistan has maintained that Masood Azhar has disappeared and out of its reach. However, contradictory statements have been made by top Pakistani officials that expose Pakistan. At time of Pulwama, while Imran Khan had asked for ‘credible intelligence inputs from India’ and feigned ignorance over Masood Azhar’s whereabouts, his foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said that Masood Azhar was very much in Pakistan. In an interview, he had claimed that the Jaish chief was extremely unwell.

According to the ruling of the FATF, Pakistan needs to fulfil its tasks under 27-point action plan. Last January, Pakistan had claimed that it had made credible efforts on 14 points. During the review, it was found that Islamabad needed to work towards 13 points. On February 16, more than 800 representatives from 205 countries and jurisdictions around the world, the IMF, UN, World Bank and other organisations, arrived for FATF Week in French capital Paris.  Six days of meetings will focus on global action to follow the money that fuels crime and terrorism and reduce the harm caused to people and society.     

Pakistan was placed in the grey list of countries responsible for terror-financing in June 2018 and had presented Islamabad with a 27-point action plan to adopt strict anti-money laundering measures till September 2019. The five-day meeting was attended by representatives from 205 countries and also from the International Monetary Fund, UN, World Bank and other organisations.

The FATF blacklist is a shorthand descriptor for the ‘Enhanced Expedited Follow Up (EEFU) list, since it is the last rung of a 4 step rating. Similarly, the FATF ‘Grey List’ refers to gradings of Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCT). Pakistan was placed on the Grey List by the FATF in June last year and was given a plan of action to complete it by October 2019, or face the risk of being placed on the blacklist with Iran and North Korea.