Rehman Malik meets with British Home Secretary Jacqui
Smith
LONDON - Mr Rehman Malik, Adviser on Interior today held a meeting
in London with
his British counterpart Ms Jacqui Smith, Secretary of State for Home Affairs.
The objective of the meeting was to exchange views on the regional situation
and the continuing cooperation between the United
Kingdom and Pakistan in fighting extremism and
terrorism.
Following the meeting which was also attended by Mr Wajid
Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan’s High
Commissioner to the United Kingdom,
Mr Rehman Malik told the media that Pakistan
was deeply grateful for the continued support of Britain
to Pakistan
in countering extremism and terrorism. He also thanked the British Government
for playing an important role in defusing tension between India and Pakistan following the terrorist
attacks in Mumbai. Terming the relations between Britain
and Pakistan
as “great friendship”, Mr Malik said that the leadership in both the countries
is strongly committed to working together against the common enemy of terrorism
which, he said, does not have a religion and is nobody’s friend.
The Interior Adviser said that Pakistan
is committed to providing unconditional support to India for investigations into
Mumbai attacks and will extend full cooperation in bringing the culprits to
justice. He said that the international community is also supporting the idea
of joint investigation, expressing the hope that with the support of the
international community both India
and Pakistan
will be able to bring the perpetrators to justice. Mr Rehman Malik also said
that Pakistan will like to
replicate the work accomplished by Britain in the domain of
de-radicalisation.
In her remarks, Secretary Jacqui Smith said that Britain will continue the good work and
cooperation between Pakistan
and Britain
in working against the terrorists, particularly under the mechanism of the
Joint Working Group on Counterterrorism. She said that it is vital that both
the countries which have suffered from terrorism should continue the good work
on this issue. She said that both the countries can benefit greatly from their
closeness in fighting the menace of extremism and terrorism. She said that the
useful discussions she held with Mr Rehman Malik will be followed up in the
forthcoming meeting of the Joint Working Group on Counterterrorism in February
2009. She also expressed the confidence that Pakistan will be able to establish
the proposed Working Group on de-radicalisation.
Earlier, Mr Rehman Malik held a meeting with Lord Malloch-Brown, FCO Minister of State on Asia
and the UN in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Interior Adviser also
held meetings with Mr Simon McDonald, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign
and Defence Policy, and Mr Robert Hannigan, Adviser
to the Prime Minister on Security Intelligence and Resilience. High
Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan also attended these meeting in which
prevailing situation in South Asia and ongoing cooperation between Pakistan and Britain came up for discussion.
January 12, 2009
