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Pakistan, Britain to set up joint anti-terror group
By Xinhua,
Nov 20, 2006 - 5:28:51 AM
Islamabad, Nov 19 (Xinhua) Pakistan and Britain have agreed to set up a joint body to cooperate in fighting against terrorism and organised crime, said a joint declaration issued on the occasion of British Prime Minister Tony Blair visit to Pakistan Sunday.
'President (Pervez) Musharraf and Prime Minister Blair agreed to strengthen the regular dialogue between the two governments through establishing a Joint Working Group between the Interior Ministry of Pakistan and the Home Office in the UK to strengthen cooperation on counter narcotics, counter terrorism, illegal immigration and transnational organised crime,' the declaration said.
The first meeting of this Working Group will take place in Islamabad in January 2007, it said.
Musharraf and Blair held talks in Lahore Sunday focusing on bilateral relations and international issues.
Blair, who arrived here Saturday night, offered Musharraf the Britain's full support in countering terrorism, including the exchanges on forensic training, investigating the financing of terrorism, and the sharing of crisis management expertise.
Musharraf welcomed the cooperation between Pakistan and Britain on counter-narcotics, and expressed the hope that it would lead to more prosecutions of high value targets.
On Afghanistan, the two leaders reaffirmed the importance of bringing stability and economic progress to that country.
'They recognised that security is crucial to Afghanistan's progress, and pledged to work together with government of Afghanistan and other international partners, to curb the violence through effective action against the militants,' said the declaration.
The two governments will contribute on a sustained basis to implementation of the Afghanistan Compact including on economic reconstruction and counter-narcotics.
Blair paid tributes to the statesmanship of Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in seeking to resolve outstanding issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, between India and Pakistan.
The British prime minister noted the progress that had been made by both leaders since the establishment of the Composite Dialogue in January 2004 and welcomed the meeting of the two foreign secretaries last week as part of that process.
Both the leaders also underlined the need for resuming the Middle East peace process at the earliest opportunities for a just and lasting settlement of the Palestine dispute.
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