Responding to a question from Anadolu Agency pertaining to remarks made by the Ambassador of India in an earlier interview in which he had said that Pakistan could be blacklisted by FATF, Ambassdor of Pakistan in Ankara, Ambassador M. Syrus Sajjad Qazi said that Pakistan is in the process of implementing the FATF Action Plan, which was being technically evaluated by the Asia Pacific Joint Group.

 “There is a technical and legal procedure, which needs to be followed in line with accepted rules and regulations of the body, not to mention accepted norm of international law.”
 
He said that it was extremely concerning that a country was predicting the results of the technical evaluation process of FATF while the process was still underway.
 
He said that the reported comments made by the Indian Ambassador were totally unwarranted and in contravention of the rules and regulations as well as purported apolitical nature of the FATF. He added that these remarks show exactly what Pakistan has been pointing out. “Certain countries wish to use this technical body for political purposes only and have a pre-meditated response to the technical evaluations underway.”
 
Ambassdor Qazi added that such statements by India and its presence amongst the evaluators and as Co-chair of the Joint Group, also undermine the impartiality and spirit of the “peer review” process which lies at the heart of FATF’s methodology and objective assessment. Such biased and politically motivated attitude compromises credibility, impartiality and legality of any process. Therefore, sanctity of the FATF process requires that India be removed as a Co-Chair of the Joint Group responsible for evaluating Pakistan’s progress.
 
He reiterated that on its part, Pakistan remained fully committed to implementing the FATF Action Plan as well as towards addressing any remaining deficiencies in its Anti-money Laundering and Countering Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) framework.
 
Ambassdor Qazi expressed the hope that international community takes notice of these attempts to undermine the technical nature of the FATF.