As Pak exits FATF grey list, here's what India said

The world should remain clear that Pakistan must continue to take 'credible, verifiable and irreversible' action against terrorism, India said after anti-money laundering watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) removed the neighbouring country from its 'grey list'.

The Paris-based FATF took Pakistan off a list of countries under increased monitoring, also known as the 'grey list'.

"It is in global interest that the world remains clear that Pakistan must continue to take credible, verifiable, irreversible and sustained action against terrorism and terrorist financing emanating from territories under its control," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Friday.

He was replying to questions from reporters on the issue.

"As a result of the FATF scrutiny, Pakistan has been forced to take some action against well-known terrorists, including those involved in attacks against the entire international community in Mumbai on 26/11," Bagchi said.

"We understand that Pakistan will continue to work with the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) to further improve its Anti Money Laundering (AML) or Counter Terror Financing (CFT) system," he added.

Pakistan was taken off the 'grey list' in the wake of Islamabad's 'high-level political commitment' in dealing with the menace of money laundering and carrying out reforms in its existing monitoring mechanism, according to the watchdog.

The decision was taken by the FATF at its plenary held in Paris on October 20-21.

At a virtual press conference subsequently, FATF president T Raja Kumar, who is from Singapore, said Pakistan has largely addressed all the 34 items flagged by the watchdog.

However, he said, Pakistan still needs to continue to work in this regard and the FATF encourages it to cooperate with its Asia Pacific Group to combat financial terrorism and money laundering.