Pakistan put on terror 'blacklist'

The Financial Action Task Force's Asia Pacific Group finds the country to be non-compliant on 32 of 40 compliance parametres related to terror financing and money laundering

New Delhi: The Asia Pacific Group of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global watchdog for terror financing and money laundering, has put Pakistan in a terror 'blacklist' for its failure to curb funnelling of funds to groups responsible for scores of attacks in India, officials here said on Friday.

While putting Pakistan in an 'Enhanced Expedited Follow Up List', the Financial Action Task Force's Asia Pacific Group also found that the country was non-compliant on 32 of 40 compliance parameters related to terror financing and money laundering, they said.

The FATF APG meeting was held in Canberra, Australia, and the discussions lasted more than seven hours over two days. India is a member of both the APG and the FATF consultations and was represented by a team of officials from the ministries of Home, External Affairs and Finance. Pakistan's multi-ministerial team at the APG meeting was led by the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan.

"The APG has placed Pakistan in the Enhanced Expedited Follow Up List (Blacklist) for failure to meet its standards," an Indian official said. He added that it had failed to stop funding to groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Actions demanding a review of Pakistan's compliance record were pushed by the US, the UK, Germany and France. Despite its efforts, Pakistan could not convince the 41-member APG plenary to upgrade it on any parametre, he said.

Pak's treatment of minorities criticised

The US criticised the "persecution" of religious minorities in Pakistan by both the govt and terrorists. The US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, Samuel Brownback, told the Security Council, "In Pakistan, religious minorities continue to suffer from persecution, either at the hands of non-state actors or through discriminatory laws."

Pak minister assaulted in UK

Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was allegedly assaulted in the UK by two officials of the Pakistan Peoples Party who pelted him with eggs and also punched him for using "abusive language" for their party leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. The alleged assault took place on Tuesday when Ahmed, came out from a hotel in London.

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