Since the Pulwama terror attack, Pakistan has maintained that Masood Azhar has disappeared and out of its reach. (Photo Credit: File Photo)
New Delhi:
Pakistan has shifted Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar from his Bahawalpur headquarters to Rawalpindi for his personal safety, according to media reports. 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.
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.
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.
