Pakistan, UK agree to strengthen counter-terrorism cooperation and strengthen migration controls
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the UK have agreed to strengthen cooperation in the areas of counter-terrorism, organised crime and preventing illegal migration, Pakistan’s interior ministry said on Saturday.
The agreement to this effect was reached during Naqvi’s visit to the UK, during which he visited the National Crime Agency (NCA), the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the National Situation Centre in London.
According to Pakistan’s Interior Ministry, the Pakistani Interior Minister met with NCA Director General James Babbage and Permanent Secretary of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Jonathan Allen.
“During the meeting, they agreed to strengthen cooperation in the areas of counter-terrorism and combating organized crime, and cybersecurity was also discussed,” the ministry said in a statement.
“They agreed to strengthen cooperation in areas such as drug trafficking, cybercrime, illegal immigration and counter-narcotics measures.”
According to a statement from the Home Ministry, Naqvi welcomed the UK’s cooperation in combating the challenge of cybercrime and stressed the need to adopt a common strategy to address the challenge of extremism.
Naqvi then visited the National Situation Centre where he was briefed about how the Centre plays an active role in times of crisis and monitors the situation.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister is currently on an official visit to the UK. During the visit, Pakistan and the UK signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) to strengthen collaboration between their law enforcement agencies to help eliminate illegal migration and promote counter-narcotics cooperation. The initiative will also help in eliminating illicit financial threats and improving cooperation in tracking crimes along the air and sea borders.
The UK will be able to deport foreign nationals and immigration criminals from the UK to Pakistan in 2022, following a major agreement between the two countries. The new plans will allow the deportation of Pakistani nationals who have no legal right to stay in the UK, including criminals, failed asylum seekers and immigration criminals.
Pakistanis are the seventh most common source of foreign offenders in prisons in England and Wales, making up around 3% of the total foreign offender population.
