Anti-Terror Watchdog FATF's Rare Acknowledgement On Pahalgam Attack

A global terror watchdog has expressed "grave concern" over the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 people were killed.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said the attack could not have occurred without the availability of finances and the means to move those funds between terror supporters. "Terrorist attacks kill, maim and inspire fear around the world. The FATF notes with grave concern and condemns the brutal terrorist attack in Pahalgam on 22 April 2025. This, and other recent attacks, could not occur without money and the means to move funds between terrorist supporters," the FATF said in a statement.

This comes after the FATF its enhanced focus on the effectiveness of measures countries has put in place to combat terror funding. It will soon release a comprehensive analysis of terrorist financing, compiling cases provided by its global network.

India has maintained that Pakistan has given safe haven to terrorists, which became evident when Islamabad's military officials were present at the funeral of terrorists killed in Operation Sindoor strikes on terror bases.

India will be preparing a dossier on the omissions and commissions by Pakistan with respect to FATF anti-money laundering and terror financing norms, which will be submitted to the global watchdog to seek a grey listing for Pakistan. The dossier will likely be presented in the next meeting of the Asia Pacific Group (APG) of FATF on August 25 and the next FATF plenary and working group meeting on October 20, per PTI.

Pakistan was in FATF's grey list in February 2008 and was removed in June 2010. The second time the country was included in the list was in February 2012, to be removed in February 2015. In June 2018, Pakistan was in the grey list for the third time. It was then removed in October 2022 after FATF asked Pakistan to continue to work with APG to further improve its anti-moneylaundering/combatting the financing of terror (AML/CFT) system.

Currently, there are 24 countries in the FATF's grey list.

The FATF statement further said that as terrorism continues to threaten societies and citizens around the world, the global watchdog is supporting over 200 jurisdictions within its global network to build and enhance their counter-financing of terrorism (CFT) measures including through the strategic use of financial intelligence -- making this one of the most powerful instruments for dismantling terrorist financing networks.