Governments of Pakistan, UK Signs Letter of Intent to combat illegal migration

Celina Ali

Islamabad: Minister for Interior, Mohsin Naqvi and Home Secretary of UK, James Cleverly on Friday witnessed signing of Letter of Intent (LOI) between the Governments of United Kingdom and Pakistan at Home Office, London.

High Commissioner, Dr. Mohammad Faisal signed the LOI on behalf of Government of Pakistan.

The LOI is aimed at collaboration between Pakistan and the UK to work together on law enforcement cooperation and criminal justice issues. It specifically addresses the issues to tackle illegal migration and organised immigration crime and to exploring future opportunities that benefit both countries.

It will also facilitate liaison between UK and Pakistan law enforcement agencies, in support of joint efforts to tackle transnational crime, including narcotics control, investigations of serious criminality and organised immigration crime.

Under the implementation mechanism, cooperation will be overseen by a joint Steering Committee, chaired by the Ministry of Interior (MOI) and comprising of representatives of Interior Ministry, National Police Bureau, British High Commission (supported by the Home Office), the programme team and other relevant agencies.

This agreement will help establish cooperation in the ability to share international criminal conviction data and analytics to prepare pre-emptive plans for crime prevention. Improving joint collaboration to tackle illicit finance threats, detecting criminality at air and sea borders, improving ability to facilitate extradition requests from the UK to Pakistan and Pakistan to the UK are also part of the LOI.

The LOI will also help in creating awareness and understanding of the mutual legal assistance process in both countries.

An important part of the LOI is capacity building that encompasses exchange of information and knowledge; exchange of experts; field trips; training of staff; joint projects; conferences, workshops and provision of specific equipment.

Progress on achievements under the LOI would be undertaken through yearly review. Earlier, during the one-on-one meeting Minister for Interior, Mohsin Naqvi and Home Secretary of UK, Mr. James Cleverly discussed measures to further strengthen Pakistan – UK bilateral relations and collaborations to resolve issues jointly.

Minister Interior, Mohsin Naqvi said that UK is a long-term partner of Pakistan and that Government to Government and people to people contacts between Pakistan and UK were at unprecedented levels.

UK’s Home Secretary said that UK highly valued relations with Pakistan and appreciated Pakistan’s support and cooperation in evacuating British citizens from Afghanistan.

James Cleverly said that contribution of Pakistani Diaspora in UK is extremely significant in the areas of cultural, social and economic domains. He lauded Mohsin Naqvi’s dedication to public service during his stint as Caretaker Chief Minister of Punjab.

Pakistani High Commissioner in UK Dr. Muhammad Faisal , British High Commissioner in Pakistan Ms. Jane Marriot and high ranking officials of UK home department were also present on this occasion.