On 11^th October 2024, Me. Adnan Zahir, in an extension lecture on “FATF Secretariat, Progress and Challenges”, addressed to the participants of the 36^th SMC.

Mr. Adnan began by outlining the challenges Pakistan faces related to terror financing. posing the critical question about the nature of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), its assessments, and why Pakistan has been more scrutinized compared to countries like India. Mr. Zahir discussed these issues interactively, focusing on global polities and its impact on FAIF’s ranking systems

Mr. Adnan explained that in 2017, Pakistan was found compliant in only 10 out of 40 FATE recommendations, leading to the country being placed on the grey list. Mr. Zahir detailed the importance of UNSC resolutions and Pakistan’s vulnerability due to its porous border with Afghanistan, where issues such as money laundering, narcotics trade, and terror financing thrive. He provided concrete examples of government policy failures that led to Pakistan’s placement on the grey list in 2017.

As the discussion progressed. Mr. Adnan outlined the sources of terror financing and money laundering, highlighting loopholes in regulatory frameworks. He used the example of the Hawala-Hundi system to illustrate these challenges and the need for stronger regulatory mechanisms.

He guided participants through Pakistan’s FATF compliance journey from 2018 to 2022, explaining how the country successfully met the requirements of 27 action items, which led to its removal from the grey list by June 2022. In the final segment of his presentation, Mr. Zahir discussed the post-2022 developments in Pakistan’s anti-money laundering (AML) and counter- terror financing (CFT) infrastructure, including legal and operational reforms aimed at ensuring compliance ahead of the next mutual evaluation in 2027-29.

During the Q&A session, he addressed global trends in money laundering and terror financing, as well as the capacity-building efforts needed within the concerned departments to maintain compliance.