At one level it seems like a huge win for India. At least one major body has focused on the Pahalgam terror attack rather than the operation that followed it, and ensuing calls for restraint. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the foremost authority on money laundering and terrorist finance, has not just condemned the terror attack, but, last week, resolved to launch a probe noting that it could not have been carried out “without money and the means to move funds between terrorist supporters”. Unlike various groups asking for proof of who did the attack, the FATF proposes to find it for itself.

The FATF was formed in 1989 by the G-7 countries, the European Commission and eight others (who are not listed), to combat money laundering, including “terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction”. Over the years, it steadily increased its mandate to include all manner of actors including narcotics networks. India joined in 2010, after a rigorous examination of its banking systems, a review which happens periodically to protect the global system from danger.

In 2024, India again got an “outstanding” report for its financial stability and probity, though the FATF warned about “non-profit” associations being used for terrorist finance. A number of NGOs were shut down, causing a cry of illiberalism. Pakistan, on the other hand, was put on a “grey........

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