ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Interior will discuss on Monday (today) the issue of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and Pakistan’s plan to get out of its grey list.

According to the agenda of the meeting, the committee chaired by Senator Rehman Malik of the Pakistan Peoples Party will examine the details of the FATF’s demands and allegations against Pakistan.

The committee will also consider the steps taken by Islamabad to get out of the FATF grey list, and any progress, if at all, that has been made so far.

The Paris-based FATF is a global body that combats terrorist financing and money laundering. Its decision to place Pakistan on the global money-laundering grey list was made during a meeting in February. In June, Pakistan was officially placed on the list.

Pakistan believes it has done a lot to get out of the grey list, such as banning both Jamaatud Dawa and its offshoot, Falah-i-Insaniyat. Their operations have been seized, their bank accounts and those of individuals linked to them are frozen and many of their assets have been confiscated.

By the end of September next year, Pakistan must comply with the 10-point action plan it committed to with the FATF in June this year to combat terror financing and money laundering. Should Islamabad fail to ensure the implementation of the action plan, the country may be blacklisted.

The Senate committee will also discuss several other issues such as the matter raised by Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi in August in the upper house of parliament, concerning a First Information Report lodged against Senator Shamim Afridi.

The committee has also decided to discuss the murder of Mujahid Hussain. Hussain was shot by two assailants in April, near Faizabad, in the jurisdiction of the New Town Police Station, Rawalpindi.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2018