Pak has silently dropped names of around 1,800 terrorists from its watch list, including that of the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind.
New York: Names of over 1,800 terrorists, including that of the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind and LeT operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi has been dropped by Pak from its watch list.
This comes ahead of a new round of assessments by Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global watchdog for terror funding.
Given Pak’s long history of exporting terror to India and the rest of the world, the country has been placed under the grey list by FATF.
The revelation comes from a US-based start-up that automates watchlist compliance.
Pakistan, in the last year and a half, has deleted “3,800 names from the Proscribed Persons List, without explanation or notification to the public”, found New York-based startup Castellum, which automates watchlist compliance
The list in 2018 contained about 7,600 names.
According to data collected by Castellum, about 1,800 of the names have been removed since the beginning of March “without any public explanation, including Zaka ur-Rehman, an alias of the Lashkar-e-Taiba leader and alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks.”
“Demonstrating effective implementation of targeted financial sanctions.” is a part of the action plan Pakistan is working to mutually agreed to with the Paris-based The Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
The report said it is possible that these removals are part of Pakistan’s action plan to implement the FATF recommendations.
Also Read: With China, Turkey, Malaysia backing, Pakistan likely to escape FATF Blacklist
While Pakistan received a rating of “low” effectiveness from the FATF regarding terrorist financing preventive measures and financial sanctions, the FATF did note in February that Pakistan has largely addressed 14 of 27 action items, with varying levels of progress made on the rest of the action, it said.
As per Castellum.AI, several of the names removed from Pakistan’s list appear to be aliases for designated terrorists listed on the US or United Nations sanctions lists.
Global standards call for countries to communicate de-listings to the financial sector immediately upon taking such action.
(Inputs from PTI)
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