ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday expressed deep concern over India’s intention to have Islamabad downgraded on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list.

Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday New Delhi would ask the global money laundering and terror finance watchdog to put Pakistan on a blacklist of countries that fail to meet international standards in stopping financial crime.

The Foreign Office in a statement issued here on Friday said that the Indian minister’s remarks re-confirmed Pakistan’s longstanding concerns that this technical forum was being politicised by India against Pakistan.

The FO pointed out that India had made several efforts in the past as well to politicise the proceedings at FATF.

Prior to the FATF’s plenary meeting in February, India circulated its own assessment of Pakistan’s progress and solicited immediate support for blacklisting Pakistan. On several previous occasions, calculated leaks were made to the Indian media about the proceedings of FATF, which were strictly confidential, it said.

These instances of politicisation by India were brought to the attention of the FATF president by the finance minister of Pakistan.

India’s attempts to politicise the proceedings at FATF against Pakistan call into question its credentials for co-chairing and being a member of the Asia Pacific Joint Group that reviews the progress made by Pakistan to implement the FATF action plan, it said.

The FO said Pakistan remains committed to fully implementing the FATF action plan. This commitment has been made at the highest political level. However, FATF must ensure that the process remains fair, unbiased and firmly grounded in the technical criteria of the forum, it said.

The FATF already has Pakistan on its “grey list” of countries with inadequate control over curbing money laundering and terrorism financing.

But India wants Pakistan blacklisted, which would likely result in sanctions, Prime Minister Imran Khan said last month.

In February, the Paris-based FATF had said that Pakistan “does not demonstrate a proper understanding” of terrorism financing risks posed by militant groups.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2019