Pakistan, UK to collaborate on law enforcement, criminal justice

LONDON: The governments of Pakistan and the United Kingdom on Friday signed a letter of intent (LOI) to collaborate on law enforcement cooperation and criminal justice issues.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and UK Home Secretary James Cleverly witnessed the signing of LOI between both governments. High Commissioner, Dr Mohammad Faisal signed the letter on Pakistan government’s behalf.

The LOI 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.

The cooperation, under the implementation mechanism, 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 the ability to facilitate extradition requests between both countries.

The letter will also help in creating awareness and understanding of the mutual legal assistance process in both countries. One of its important parts is capacity building which 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, James Cleverly discussed measures to further strengthen Pakistan-UK bilateral relations and collaborations to resolve issues jointly.

Naqvi said that the UK is a long-term partner of Pakistan and that government to government and people to people contacts between both countries were at unprecedented levels.

Meanwhile, Cleverly said that the UK highly values relations with Pakistan and appreciated its support and cooperation in evacuating British citizens from Afghanistan. He added that contribution of Pakistani diaspora in UK is extremely significant in the areas of cultural, social and economic domains. He lauded Naqvi’s dedication to public service during his stint as caretaker chief minister of Punjab.