New Delhi: After four years, Pakistan on Friday may exit the grey list of the global watchdog on terror financing and money laundering FATF, a development that will allow it to try to get foreign funding to tide over its precarious financial situation. Till June, Pakistan had completed most of the action items given to it 2018 by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and a few item which were left unfulfilled including its failure to take action against UN designated terrorists, including Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed and his trusted aide and the group's 'operational commander' Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
Azhar, Saeed and Lakhvi are most wanted terrorists in India for their involvement in numerous terrorist acts, including 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and bombing of a CRPF bus at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019. Pakistan was put in the inglorious list in 2018 for its failure to check risk of money laundering, leading to corruption and terror financing. The FATF had found Pakistan's deficiencies in its legal, financial, regulatory, investigations, prosecution, judicial and non-government sector to fight money laundering and combat terror financing considered serious threat to global financial system. The Paris-based global watchdog on money laundering and terrorist financing had recently said that the "first FATF Plenary under the two-year Singapore Presidency of T. Raja Kumar will take place on October 20-21" in Paris.