Pakistan is set to learn whether it has done enough to be removed from a global watch list of countries with inadequate controls over the financing of terrorism.
The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is to conclude a five-day meeting on October 18 and is scheduled to decide whether to remove Islamabad from the watch list or to blacklist it alongside Iran and North Korea.
The global money-laundering watchdog placed Pakistan on its terrorism financing "gray" monitoring list last year to pressure Islamabad to halt alleged support for militant groups.
The FATF, which comprises 35 member states and two regional organizations, discourages banks and global investors from lending money to a country put on its gray list.
The move followed a push by the United States and European allies to get Islamabad to close financing loopholes to terrorist groups.
Pakistan has also been under pressure to stop offering a safe haven to militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan.
Islamabad has denied the charges, insisting that it is clamping down on extremist groups and their financing.
But it also said it made a "high-level" commitment to work with international authorities to tighten regulations and follow an action plan to curb money-laundering and terror financing.
Pakistan has blamed its neighbor and bitter nuclear rival India for lobbying to blacklist it and has looked to friendly nations such as China, Turkey, and Malaysia for support.
Reuters reported that during a recent visit to Beijing, Pakistan's civil and military leadership was assured by Chinese leaders that Islamabad would not be placed on the task force's blacklist.
"God willing, we're trying that we get out of this gray-list as soon as possible, and I think you should believe that a comprehensive effort is being put in place," Pakistani Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh told a news conference.
"We have done a lot to remove anomalies in our system. We hope the body will remove us from the watch list," he added.
If Pakistan does avert a blacklisting, it will be a temporary measure until the FATF’s next annual summit in February 2020.
Pakistan Awaits Fate On Global Terror-Financing Watch List
- By RFE/RL
