Modi Govt. Ensured Pakistan Is Retained On FATF Greylist: Jaishankar
External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Sunday said the Narendra Modi government ensured that Pakistan remained on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Addressing a virtual training program on the foreign policy for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, Jaishankar said India has made efforts to have cordial relations with its neighbours while ensuring that terrorism is treated as a global issue, reported news agency ANI.
“Due to us, Pakistan is under the lens of FATF and it was kept in the grey list. We have been successful in pressurizing Pakistan and the fact that Pakistan’s behaviour has changed is because of pressure put by India by various measures,” ANI quoted Jaishankar as saying.
During the training program, the minister also credited the Union government’s efforts through the United Nations for sanctions on terrorist organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, reported ANI. The session was reportedly aimed at informing BJP’s members of Parliament about foreign policy initiatives taken by the Union government so that they can counter opposition charges during the Monsoon session starting Monday.
Last month, FATF retained Pakistan on the list of countries under “increased monitoring”, observing that the country failed to prosecute top leadership of the UN Security Council-designated terror groups. Pakistan had completed 26 out of the 27 tasks assigned to get delisted but failing to complete one task worked against its efforts. Moreover, the terror-financing watchdog handed down Pakistan another list of six tasks, mainly related to money laundering actions.
Jaishankar said that PM Modi’s personal efforts on global forums like G7 and G20 made nations realise that terrorism was everyone’s problem, reported ANI quoting people familiar with the development. He told the BJP leaders that India made China back down on the Doklam issue and gave an appropriate reply when the People’s Liberation Army tried infringing the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh.
“Now the world knows, India will not bow down to pressure from China,” the minister reportedly said, according to ANI.
