India, US welcomed this on Pakistan!

New Delhi, June 30: India and the US have welcomed a global terror financing watchdog demoting Pakistan to a 'grey list' for underperforming in rooting out sources of finance for terrorists within its borders and for not taking enough - or any, at all - action in curbing activities of terror elements who roam freely within its provinces.

The watchdog, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), on Wednesday greylisted Pakistan - an international pariah - for its support to terror.

Pakistan avoided the far graver 'blacklist' by agreeing to comply with a 26-point action plan formulated by the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) of the Asia Pacific Group.

"India welcomes the decision of the Financial Action Task Force to place Pakistan in its Compliance Document (grey list) for ICRG monitoring," said India's ministry of external affairs, in a statement today.

The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

And to avoid FATF's blacklist, Pakistan has to, by January, publish updated lists of persons and entities prescribed under the Anti-Terrorism Act and the UN-designated entities.

Pakistan has "outstanding counterterrorism deficiencies consistently raised by the Financial Action Task Force" and needs to take actions, including on the raising and moving of funds of UN-designated terrorist groups, a top US official said to media.