The Pakistan government is preparing to amend two laws in order to meet the FATF criteria of exiting the grey list before the upcoming June session this year. In the last two years, the country had amended almost three dozen laws in compliance with the FATF action plan. 

In the last FATF meeting, Pakistan was asked to submit the progress report within a month on required changes in the country’s legislative framework and to address some other concerns. 

Pakistan’s Finance Minister Abdul Hafiz Sheikh has directed the Financial Monitoring Unit to immediately finalize the timeline for additional legislative changes, according to a report on Dawn. He also directed the unit to consult other government agencies and armed forces in this regard. 

Although the country has made significant progress in FATF compliance, it also repeatedly missed deadlines.  “The strict adherence to timelines would culminate into the successful completion of the FATF action plan,” the finance minister was quoted as saying by Dawn. He asked all stakeholders to expedite efforts to fulfill the remaining areas of the FATF action plan.

The additional amendments are required to remove some of the shortcomings that make it tough for the authorities to take action, including imposing sanctions, on the people who behave on behalf of terrorists or terrorist organizations.