ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Britain have agreed to further enhance cooperation in counter-terrorism and the prevention of human trafficking, Pakistani state media reported on Monday.
An understanding to this effect was reached during a meeting between Pakistan’s Interior Secretary Aftab Akbar Durrani and Simon Ridley, second permanent secretary of the British Home Office, in Islamabad, the state-run Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.
“During the meeting, both parties also agreed to advance cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of the two countries,” the report read.
“Progress on the extradition agreements between Pakistan and the United Kingdom was also reviewed.”
The development comes more than a month after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) launched Pakistan’s first hotline to register complaints against human trafficking in the country.
The move was part of a widening crackdown on human traffickers by Pakistani authorities since June last year after around 300 Pakistanis died when a rusty trawler sank off Greece.
In Dec. 2023, Islamabad hosted an inaugural session of the Pakistan-UK Counter-Terrorism dialogue, according to the Pakistani Foreign Office. The Pakistani side was led by Director-General (Counter-Terrorism) Abdul Hameed, while the UK delegation was led by Chris Felton, head of Counter-Terrorism and Extremism Network (CTEN) for Asia.
The dialogue covered a wide range of areas, reflecting the depth and breadth of counter-terrorism cooperation between the two countries, the Pakistani Foreign Office said.
