ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the United Kingdom (UK) have held talks on counterterrorism and security cooperation as both countries seek to promote bilateral cooperation to combat cross-border crimes, state media reported on Friday.
The second round of the Pakistan-UK Counter Terrorism Dialogue took place in London in February 2025, reviewing global and regional threats and exchanging best practices. Over the years, the armed forces of both countries have also maintained close cooperation, particularly in counterterrorism efforts and professional military training.
“During the meeting discussions were held on Pakistan-UK relations, including enhancing cooperation in counterterrorism, security and preventing cross-border crimes,” Radio Pakistan said in a report following a meeting between Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and British Under Secretary of State for Faith, Communities and Resettlement Lord Wajid Khan.
Earlier this month, Rana Sanaullah, an adviser to Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif, had met British High Commissioner Jane Marriott to discuss enhancing security cooperation between the two countries and adopting a joint strategy against “terrorism.”
Last June, Pakistan and the UK agreed to enhance cooperation in the fields of organized crime and the prevention of illegal immigration during Naqvi’s meeting with National Crime Agency Director-General James Babbage and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Director-General Jonathan Allen.
In 2022, the UK signed an agreement with Pakistan allowing the return of foreign criminals and immigration offenders from the UK. Under this arrangement, Pakistani nationals with no legal right to stay in the UK including criminals, failed asylum seekers and immigration violators, can be deported.
Pakistanis currently represent the seventh-largest group of foreign criminals in prisons across England and Wales, accounting for nearly 3 percent of the foreign national offender population.
Pakistan, UK discuss counterterrorism, security cooperation to tackle cross-border crime
https://arab.news/23cj4
Pakistan, UK discuss counterterrorism, security cooperation to tackle cross-border crime
- Pakistan-UK Counter Terrorism Dialogue took place in London in February, reviewing global and regional threats
- Armed forces of both countries maintain close cooperation, particularly in counterterrorism efforts, military training
Four people, including two policemen, killed in twin blasts in northwest Pakistan
- Attack on police van in South Waziristan and motorbike-mounted IED in Lakki Marwat hits KP province
- Violence comes amid a surge in militancy and cross-border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: At least four people, including two policemen, were killed and about 20 others wounded in two separate blasts in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday, officials said, the latest violence in a region grappling with militant violence.
One explosion targeted a police patrol van in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan district near the Afghan border, while another blast caused by explosives mounted on a motorbike struck a market area in Lakki Marwat district, according to police officials and preliminary reports.
The incidents come amid rising militant violence in Pakistan’s northwest, where authorities say armed groups operate from across the border in Afghanistan, straining relations between Islamabad and the Taliban administration in Kabul, with both sides engaged in a military conflict since last month.
“The control room received information in the evening about a bomb blast targeting a police van in Wana Bazaar,” a police official in the area, who did not want to be named, confirmed while speaking to Arab News over the phone.
He confirmed two deaths in the incident while saying more than 25 people had been injured.
The official said rescue teams responded promptly and shifted three seriously injured people to a nearby hospital in Wana.
In another incident during the day in Lakki Marwat, an improvised explosive device attached to a motorbike exploded near shops.
“Two people have been killed and about 10 have been injured in an IED blast in Lakki Marwat,” Raza Khan, Deputy Superintendent of Police in Bannu, told Arab News.
“The deceased are identified as Shoaib Ur Rehman and Furqan Ullah,” he added. “Shoaib, the owner of the shop, was the brother of the Lakki peace committee head.”
Peace committees in the region are informal, community-based groups that work with security forces to report militant activity and maintain order, making their members frequent targets of attacks.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attacks and expressed grief over the incidents.
“I strongly condemn the blast near a police patrolling vehicle in Wana Bazaar,” Naqvi said in a statement, confirming the killing of four people, including two police personnel.
“Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police are on the front line in the war against terrorism,” he said, noting the force had made “unforgettable sacrifices” in the fight against militant groups.
Militant violence has surged in Pakistan’s border regions in recent months, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban government of allowing militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from Afghan territory — a charge Kabul denies — as cross-border tensions between the two neighbors have escalated.
