Pakistan and the United Kingdom have agreed to expand cooperation on counter-terrorism, anti-narcotics, cybercrime and immigration, following the first visit to Pakistan by British Minister of State for Security Dan Jarvis, the interior ministry said on Friday, 6 November.
Jarvis held delegation-level talks with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi at the Ministry of Interior in Islamabad on Friday, a day after meeting Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. The British High Commission said the minister used his first visit to Pakistan to meet senior political, military and law-enforcement officials to discuss regional stability, counter-terrorism, serious organised crime and illegal migration.
The two sides agreed to deepen cooperation in seven areas: counter-terrorism, anti-narcotics, cybercrime, immigration, identity management through NADRA, coast guard operations and training programmes. They also agreed to convene a meeting of the working group established between the two interior ministries.
A central outcome of the talks was an agreement to finalise a memorandum of understanding on anti-narcotics cooperation at the earliest opportunity. The agreement would make cooperation between the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency and Pakistan's Anti-Narcotics Force fully operational, turning an existing working relationship into a formal framework.
Naqvi told the meeting that Pakistan and Britain had together thwarted 330 drug-smuggling cases in recent years, a figure he presented as evidence that the partnership was already producing results. He said Pakistan wanted to expand the cooperation further, and that both countries already worked closely together in several security areas.
Jarvis praised the performance of the Federal Investigation Agency in curbing illegal immigration, and acknowledged Pakistan's sacrifices and efforts in the war against terrorism. Describing cybercrime as an international challenge, he said countries needed to work together to combat it effectively.
In a statement issued by the British High Commission, Jarvis said the two countries faced shared threats. “The UK and Pakistan face shared threats, and we are stronger when we confront them together. My visit has focused on deepening the partnership that helps keep British people safe,” he said.
The discussions also covered regional security, including stability in Afghanistan, and practical cooperation against terrorism, serious organised crime, illegal migration and visa fraud. The aim, according to the British statement, is to disrupt threats before they reach the United Kingdom and to protect communities in both countries.
The visit builds on an annual counter-terrorism dialogue between the two countries held in Islamabad earlier in the week, which had raised alarm over the threat posed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan from Afghanistan. Jarvis's meetings carried that discussion forward into concrete agreements on operations, information sharing and institutional capability.
For Pakistan, the visit matters because it puts counter-terrorism and narcotics cooperation with a major Western partner on a more formal footing at a time when Islamabad is pressing for stronger action against cross-border militancy. For the United Kingdom, the partnership is framed around domestic security: stopping organised crime, illegal migration and visa fraud at source rather than at the British border.
What happens next will be measured by the speed of the follow-up. The anti-narcotics memorandum still has to be finalised, the interior ministries' working group has to meet, and the expanded cooperation on NADRA, coast guards and training has to move from agreement to joint work. If those steps happen quickly, the visit will have produced more than a statement of intent; if they stall, it will join a long list of security understandings that were announced with more ceremony than follow-through.
