UK Pledges £8 Million to Pakistan for Anti-Illegal Migration Efforts
The United Kingdom has announced an additional £8 million in funding to support joint efforts with Pakistan aimed at combating illegal migration and organized crime. This initiative seeks to enhance border management, improve visa systems, and provide technical expertise to disrupt human smuggling and trafficking networks. During his visit to Islamabad, UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary Hamish Falconer also acknowledged Pakistan's role in facilitating diplomatic efforts that led to a US-Iran agreement and discussed strengthening economic cooperation.
United Kingdom Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Hamish Falconer, announced an additional £8 million to bolster joint UK-Pakistan initiatives against crime and illegal migration during his visit to Islamabad.
The allocated funding is intended to enhance border management and visa systems, and to provide technical expertise to Pakistani law enforcement agencies. These measures aim to disrupt human smuggling and trafficking networks. The package will also address the underlying factors that drive irregular migration, support the return of individuals who have no legal right to remain in the UK, and finance community-based initiatives in areas identified as vulnerable to illegal migration. Programmes will focus on improving identity verification, information-sharing mechanisms, strengthening investigative capacity against smuggling networks, and expanding prevention initiatives to reduce exploitation risks.
During his visit, Falconer met with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, personally thanking him for Pakistan's contribution to diplomatic efforts that facilitated an agreement between the United States and Iran. The UK welcomed this agreement, noting its potential for regional stability. Falconer reiterated the UK’s commitment to promoting stability in the Middle East and affirmed continued close cooperation with partners, including Pakistan, to support lasting peace and freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
Discussions between the two sides also covered regional developments, Pakistan’s macroeconomic outlook, ongoing structural reforms, fiscal priorities, institutional modernization, and opportunities to strengthen UK-Pakistan economic cooperation. Falconer highlighted the critical nature of the UK-Pakistan partnership for safeguarding global, regional, and British national security through close cooperation against terrorist threats, visa fraud, and serious organized crime.
Falconer witnessed a live demonstration of joint law-enforcement operations designed to tackle illegal migration, which assist Pakistani authorities in identifying and stopping non-genuine visa holders at airports. He also met with Federal Minister for Finance Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb to discuss various aspects of bilateral cooperation, with both countries reaffirming their commitment to strengthening their partnership.
According to Dawn Pakistan, these announcements were made during the UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary's recent visit.
