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US-India Statement Calls on FATF to Tighten Terrorist Financing Standards



WASHINGTON DC: The US-India Joint Statement Released During Prime Ministerial Narendra ModiChina’s first state visit to the country left open the option of asking the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to further tighten its standards against money laundering and terrorist financing, Dawn reported.
The joint statement also urged Pakistan to take “immediate action” against all terror groups.
The statement was issued during the one-on-one meeting between PM Modi and the US President. Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday.
The statement quoted the two leaders calling for “the FATF to undertake further work to identify how to improve the global implementation of its standards to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.”
Dawn is one of the leading media outlets in Pakistan reporting on national and international issues related to Pakistan.
Uzair Younus, a South Asia scholar at the Atlantic Council in Washington DC, said this should be of concern to Pakistan because “there is evidence that when pushed on the FATF side, Pakistan complies with specific demands like this,” he reported. Dawn.
Invoking the case of Sajid Mir (a key conspirator of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks), the statement added that in the fall of 2021, “Sajid Mir was resurrected” when Pakistan faced similar pressures.
On the FBI’s most wanted terrorist list, he is wanted by both the US and India for the Mumbai attacks. However, he was initially claimed to be dead and was arrested by Pakistani security agencies in 2022 and subsequently convicted, Dawn reported.
The declaration also signifies cooperation between the US and Indian governments on “counterterrorism designations and national security cooperation,” including intelligence sharing and law enforcement cooperation, the report noted.
This gives them the option of joint designations, further increasing the pressure on Pakistan to go after those declared terrorists by the Indian government.
The statement “calls on Pakistan to take immediate steps to ensure that no territory under its control is used to launch terrorist attacks” while demanding that “the perpetrators of 26/11 in Mumbai and pathankot attacks” brought to justice.
During the White House meeting, President Biden and Prime Minister Modi reiterated the call for concerted action against all UN-listed terrorist groups, including Al-Qaeda, the so-called Islamic State (IS), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Hizb-ul-Mujhahideen, Dawn reported.
Shuja Nawaz, a Pakistani-American scholar, said: “This means that the US is now siding with India to pressure Pakistan to take verifiable action against groups that have in the past been granted refuge or sponsorship.”
“It is significant that nothing is said about the Indian crackdown in Kashmir or Manipur or Gandhi’s exclusion from parliament,” he added.
However, Younus noted that the US message “has been loud and clear for a while: act against terrorists who have found a safe haven on Pakistani soil, especially those linked to LeT and responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks.” and Pathankot”.
When asked why Washington was supporting an Indian lawsuit, he further said, “The United States has a long history of supporting this lawsuit, and for valid reasons, since American citizens died there, too.”
The joint statement also stressed that the United States and India “stand together to counter global terrorism and unequivocally condemn terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations.”
The two leaders strongly condemned cross-border terrorism and the use of terrorist proxies, noting “with concern the growing global use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), drones and information and communication technologies for terrorist purposes and reaffirmed the importance to work together to combat that misuse,” according to Dawn.





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