NEW DELHI: Months ahead of an assessment by global terror financing watchdog FATF, Pakistan removed around 1,800 terrorists, including 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind and Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi from its watchlist.
The proscribed persons list in Pakistan is maintained by its National Counter Terrorism Authority. The list helps institutions minimise transactions with suspected terrorists.
According to Castellum.AI, a US-based company that automates watchlist compliance, Pakistan’s list with 7,600 names in 2018 was pruned to about 3,500.
Between March 9 and March 27, Castellum found Pakistan had removed 1,069 names from the proscribed persons list. About 800 more names were removed from the list after March 27 without explanation or notification to the public, it said.
In its last rating exercise, the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) had found poor compliance by Pakistan regarding terrorist financing preventive measures and financial sanctions. The next round of FATF evaluation of Pakistan is due in June 2020.