India has submitted a statement by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as alleged evidence against Pakistan, according to FATF officials.
Gandapur had publicly claimed that “we arrest Taliban members, but institutions release them,” a remark that India is now using to support its long-standing narrative that Pakistan supports terrorism. The Indian government has presented the statement as part of a formal request to place Pakistan back on FATF’s grey list.
FATF officials confirmed that India has framed Gandapur’s remarks as a “charge sheet” against Pakistan, arguing that such internal admissions reflect institutional support for proscribed groups. The request is part of India’s broader diplomatic push to increase pressure on Islamabad through international financial watchdogs.
It’s worth noting that Pakistan was removed from FATF’s grey list in October 2022, after nearly four years of enhanced monitoring. Since then, Indian authorities and media have repeatedly lobbied to revive scrutiny on Pakistan’s counter-terror financing performance.
This latest move signals renewed geopolitical tension between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, with India attempting to leverage internal Pakistani political statements on global forums. Pakistan has not yet issued an official response to India’s FATF submission.