FATF Grey List Failed to Stop Terrorism Backed by Pakistan

FATF grey-listing failed to deter Pakistan-backed terror attacks against India over 15 critical years.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

Between 2008 and 2022, Pakistan was placed on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list on three separate occasions: from February 2008 to June 2010, from February 2012 to February 2015, and from June 2018 to October 2022. These actions were ostensibly meant to pressure Pakistan into halting terror activities, especially those targeting India.

However, an analysis of this 15-year period reveals a troubling pattern: five major terrorist attacks were carried out against India either while Pakistan was under FATF scrutiny or shortly after it exited the list—at a time when planning and infiltration for the said attacks were already underway. In each instance, the attacks were orchestrated by groups operating from Pakistani territory, including Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

This pattern of violence indicates that greylisting—FATF's primary tool to compel financial accountability—has had virtually no deterrent effect on Pakistan's long-standing practice of exporting jihadist violence across its eastern border. It raises a serious question: What has Delhi achieved by repeatedly presenting evidence of Pakistan's involvement in terrorism, and how has FATF failed to dismantle the terror networks that are both controlled and unleashed by army officers at GHQ, Rawalpindi?

Following the April 2025 massacre in Pahalgam, the Indian government renewed its call for Pakistan to be returned to the FATF grey list. To support its arguments, it shared dossiers containing irrefutable evidence with relevant stakeholders.