FATF Targets State Sponsorship of Terrorism, Pakistan Under Scrutiny
UPSC Relevance
Prelims: International Relations (Key international bodies: Financial Action Task Force (FATF), United Nations Security Council (UNSC)); Internal Security (Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, UN Sanctions Lists, key terrorist outfits).
Mains:
General Studies Paper 2 (International Relations): "Important International institutions, agencies and fora—their structure, mandate." (Role of FATF); "India and its neighborhood- relations." (Pakistan's role).
General Studies Paper 3 (Internal Security): "Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security" (State-sponsored terrorism); "Linkages between organized crime and terrorism"; "Security challenges and their management in border areas."
Key Highlights from the News
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary meeting in Paris is making state sponsorship of terrorism a major topic of discussion.
The meeting will discuss the role of countries like Pakistan in funding proscribed terrorist organizations and their proxies.
The UNSC's ISIL/Al-Qaeda sanctions list includes over 130 terrorist organizations and individuals linked to Pakistan.
The US had declared The Resistance Force (TRF), which carried out the Pahalgam terror attack, as a proxy organization of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
FATF had condemned the Pahalgam attack. Additionally, in a report in July, FATF for the first time acknowledged "state support" as a major threat to global peace.
Indian agencies found that LeT, under the guise of the front organization Jamaat-ud-Dawa, was raising funds in the name of "relief for flood victims".
The report also states that the Pakistan government itself sanctioned funds to rebuild the headquarters of organizations like LeT and JeM.
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