ISLAMABAD--The United States has put forward a motion to place Pakistan on a global terrorist-financing watchlist with an anti-money-laundering monitoring group, according to a senior Pakistani official.
Pakistan has been scrambling in recent months to avert being added to a list of countries deemed non-compliant with terrorist financing regulations by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a measure that officials fear could hurt its economy.
The United States has been threatening to get tough with Islamabad over its alleged ties with Islamist militants, and last month President Donald Trump's administration suspended aid worth about $2 billion. Islamabad, which denies assisting militants in Afghanistan and India, has reacted angrily to U.S. threats of further punitive measures.
A meeting of FATF member states is due to take place next week in Paris, where the organisation could adopt the motion on Pakistan. The FATF, an intergovernmental body based in Paris, sets global standards for fighting illicit finance.
Pakistan's de facto finance minister, Miftah Ismail, told Reuters that the United States and Britain put forward the motion several weeks ago, and later persuaded France and Germany to co-sponsor it.
"We are now working with the U.S., UK, Germany and France for the nomination to be withdrawn," Ismail said, speaking by telephone from Europe. "We are also quite hopeful that even if the U.S. did not withdraw the nomination that we will prevail and not be put on the watchlist."
Pakistan had been on the FATF watchlist from 2012 to 2015.
A senior U.S. official who follows U.S. policy in the region said Pakistan has "always been selective" in cracking down on militants who use its territory as a base. "It is time for that to stop, and so we are working with our allies, who also are affected, to see effective action against groups such as the Haqqanis and elements of the Taliban," said the official, referring to militants operating along the border with Afghanistan.
The FATF had previously warned Islamabad it could be put back on the watchlist without further efforts to crack down on the flow of funds to militants. Pakistani officials and Western diplomats say that being put on the FATF watchlist could deal a blow to Pakistan's economy as it would make it harder for foreign investors and companies to do business in the nuclear-armed South Asian nation.
