Latest news with #counter-terrorism
Arab News
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Islamabad, Kabul vow closer cooperation to tackle militancy, improve border management — FO
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Afghanistan have reaffirmed their commitment to countering militancy and improving border management, the Pakistani interior ministry said on Sunday, following a meeting between the two interior ministers in Kabul. Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi arrived in Kabul on Sunday for a day-long visit to hold talks with Sirajuddin Haqqani, his counterpart in the Afghan interim government, days after top Pakistani officials visited Kabul to sign a framework agreement for a joint feasibility study on the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (UAP) Railway Project. Naqvi's visit also followed the inaugural additional secretary-level talks between both sides in Islamabad to discuss trade, visas, security, connectivity and refugee issues as well as a meeting of the Pakistani, Afghan and Chinese foreign ministers in Beijing, which resulted in the upgradation of Pakistan-Afghanistan diplomatic relations to the ambassador's rank. During their meeting, the Pakistani and Afghan interior ministers discussed bilateral relations and matters relating to the Pakistani Taliban and counter-terrorism, border management, narcotics control and the process of repatriation of Afghan citizens illegally residing in Pakistan, according to the Pakistani interior ministry. 'Both interior ministers emphasized the need for peaceful coexistence, stability, and cooperation,' the Pakistani ministry said in a statement. 'They agreed to strengthen mutual cooperation to eliminate the scourge of terrorism and Pak-Afghan border management.' The TTP, which mainly operates in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan, has stepped up its attacks against Pakistani security forces and law enforcers in recent months. Islamabad has often said the group has sanctuaries in Afghanistan, an allegation denied by Kabul. Naqvi said militant groups were causing chaos and instability in the region, and that Pakistan wishes brotherly and lasting relations with Afghanistan, according to the statement. 'We have to stop it [militancy] together,' he was quoted as saying. 'Pakistan has selflessly hosted millions of Afghan refugees for decades, and its doors are open for the legal entry of Afghan citizens.' Pakistan this year said it wanted 3 million Afghans to leave the country, including 1.4 million people with Proof of Registration cards and some 800,000 with Afghan Citizen Cards. There are a further 1 million Afghans in the country illegally because they have no paperwork, according to officials. Analysts link the recent high-level engagements between Pakistan and Afghanistan to a growing effort toward regional peace, suggesting that the process should continue to address militancy, refugee resettlement, and broader bilateral cooperation. 'These continued high-level engagements are crucial for promoting peace in our surrounding, but they should not be one-off efforts, instead, a sustained and continuous process of engagement is needed,' former Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Dr. Nafees Zakaria told Arab News. 'Constructive engagement with Afghanistan is important to help stabilize the [security] situation, which is ultimately in Pakistan's interest,' he said, adding that it was essential for Kabul to not provide space to 'inferior elements' for bilateral relations to have a stable trajectory. Zakaria said both countries needed to consider all other aspects of their relationship, including cultural cooperation and refugee issues. 'They (Afghan refugees) are now returning to their country... their proper resettlement is crucial, otherwise, it could become a humanitarian catastrophe,' he said. Qamar Cheema, executive director of the Sanober Institute think tank that focuses on South Asia issues, said these continued engagements were essential to fill 'gaps' in bilateral relations between the two countries. 'Pakistan wants the Afghan Taliban to hold the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan accountable and for this matter, multiple means are being used, including the multilateral and or trilateral forum like Pakistan, Afghanistan and China,' he told Arab News. 'Pakistan is seeking further assurances and aims to persuade the Afghan Taliban to continue summoning the TTP leadership and issuing clear political statements in order to prevent the TTP from launching attacks or crossing the border into Pakistan.' Syed Muhammad Ali, an Islamabad-based analyst, said the visit follows a trilateral push for a trans-regional rail link that offers major benefits for war-torn Afghanistan. 'Sino-Pakistan offer to include Afghanistan in the multi-billion-dollar worth of CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) reflects Islamabad's intent to offer lucrative geo-economic incentives to the Kabul administration,' he said. 'These incentives aim to encourage recognition of Pakistan's security concerns regarding terrorist organizations operating from Afghan soil and to reduce their space and capacity.'
Sky News
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Britain may have to resort to anti-subversion laws, watchdog warns
Britain may need anti-subversion laws to counter threats from states determined to undermine democracy, a government watchdog has said. Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of state threat legislation, is due to report this week on using counter-terrorism laws against state interference. Mr Hall was asked by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to review whether there were elements of counter-terrorism legislation which could be emulated to address state-based security threats last December. In particular, he was asked to look at what legal measures would be useful against "highly aggressive state bodies" such as Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In a speech to the Policy Exchange thinktank on Monday, Mr Hall will say the internet offers intelligence officers a "perfect way of directly recruiting tasking and paying individuals". "Young people who might once have been attracted to a terrorist cause are now willing to carry out sabotage for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's Russia," he will add in the John Creaney Memorial Lecture. "They are recruited in exactly the same way, by groups operating on Telegram", an encrypted messaging app, the reviewer says. "I am thinking about the measures that may one day be needed to save democracy from itself. What do I mean? I am referring to counter-subversion," he is set to add. Counter-subversion was part of MI5's role in the 1950s and 1970s but fell out of favour, associated with McCarthyism and infiltrations of domestic protest groups by undercover police, Mr Hall says. New laws may now be needed but they would need to come with legal safeguards. "If I was a foreign intelligence officer, of course I would ensure that the UK hated itself and its history," he says in the speech. "That the very definition of woman should be put into question, and that masculinity would be presented as toxic. "That white people should be ashamed and non-white people aggrieved. I would promote anti-Semitism within politics. "My intention would be to cause both immediate and long-term damage to the national security of the UK by exploiting the freedom and openness of the UK by providing funds, exploiting social media, and entryism." Pro-Russia groups find ideological affinity with "lone actors" by posing as "protectors of Christian civilisation" and position Russia as a "true defender of crumbling Western civilisation," he says. Foreign intelligence agents could already be using social media as a "delightful playground for wedge issues". They could seek to use online "sextortion" tactics to obtain kompromat and force individuals to carry out tasking, while they may also be seeking to meddle in Brexit, Scottish independence or the independence of overseas territories. They could also sponsor contentious foreign policy issues such as Gaza, or amplify the lie that the Southport killer was a Muslim who arrived on a small boat, Mr Hall says. They might encourage extreme forms of environmentalism, or policies that would damage adversaries' economy "or at least sow discord or hopelessness", the reviewer adds. Content moderation - removing, blocking, or limiting access to certain content - is "never going to sufficiently address the unprecedented access that the internet accords to impressionable minds," Mr Hall says. Legal measures that have proved useful in dealing with domestic terrorist groups may need to be adapted for groups involved in state threats to stop them promoting themselves and inviting support online and offline, he says in the speech. One answer is the offence of "foreign interference" under the new National Security Act 2023 but proving that a "foreign hand" is at work can be very difficult, Mr Hall says. Another answer is "social resilience against disinformation" or even "a Cold War mentality that sniffs out subversion". "But what if it was necessary to go further? What if it was necessary to investigate, intrusively, the source of funding for protest movements?" Mr Hall asks if it might be necessary to "bring forward a law, in the interests of national security, banning extremism or subversion". He asks if it might be desirable to pass a law banning Muslim Brotherhood candidates from standing in elections. The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamist social movement which arose in Egypt in the 1920s but also gave rise to Hamas. Such laws would be difficult, he acknowledges, because they would have to be based on general principles that apply to individuals equally - such as separatism, hateful extremism, or subversiveness - which have so far eluded politicians. If such new laws were introduced, they would "need sufficient safeguard in the form of judicial intervention, not cowed by excessive deference to the executive but ready to correct things when they go wrong", Mr Hall concludes.
