Canadian High Commissioner in Pakistan Ms Margaret Huber has said that the customs officials are the frontline defence to curb terrorism, drug trafficking and human smuggling, including smuggling of women and children.
The strong defence line of customs at the borders and airports could play a key role in combating international crimes, she added.
She was addressing the concluding session of a training programme for Pakistani custom officers arranged by Canadian instructors at the Directorate-General of Training and Research Institute here on Friday.
CBR Member Customs Muhammad Ramzan Bhatti, Director General Customs and Intelligence and Investigation Major General (Retd) Usman Ali Shah, D.G. Training Abdul Waheed Khan and Canadian instructors were also present.
The Canadian Ambassador said that foolproof customs department in Pakistan is very important, as it is a frontline state in war against terrorism.
Such courses could assist the customs in learning modern techniques to meet the challenges.
Margaret said that Canadian instructors shared their experiences with the Pakistani officers during the training course, while they also learnt a lot from Pakistani customs experience as well.
The relationship between Canada and Pakistan would further strengthen due to arrangements of such courses and both countries would co-ordinate in facing challenges in future.
The High Commissioner said that when she for the first time visited Pakistan 30 years back, she was working as ADB liaison officer in Pakistan. At that time, the social indicators were not strong or high, and poverty level was rising and health and education levels were not encouraging.
The situation has improved but there is a need of increasing economic activities, including trade and investment.
"The economy of the country is not as strong as I wish." She quoted an article, which says, "India and Pakistan have an official bilateral trade of $ 250 million ie equivalent to trade of three hours between United Sates of American (USA) and Canada. Thus, a lot of revenue is not coming to support education, health and other areas in Pakistan."
She expressed optimism that dialogue process between the two countries would be instrumental in brining more investment and increase the volume of bilateral trade eliminating poverty and improving social indicators.
She said that economic growth demands stability in the country. The effective 'defences' at the airports and borders will reduce chances of terrorism and international crimes.
Director General Customs Intelligence and Investigation Major General Usman Ali Shah said that the training course focused on techniques used for combating emerging trends of crimes including money laundering and smuggling.
He said that custom officials must understand that the criminals and law flouters are one step ahead of the law.
Therefore, custom department has to prepare itself for facing these challenges.
Officers of Pakistan Rangers and Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) could also get two main benefits from this course. First, they were trained about new concepts, and secondly interaction between law enforcement agencies will enhance their skills.
D.G. Training Abdul Waheed Khan said that custom has to work on risk management system for facilitating the import/export procedures.
The modern customs have the objective to protect the public from the violators threatening the economy. Margaret distributed certificates among the participants of the course.
The Canadian instructors distributed souvenirs among the participants while customs presented shields to the instructors.
Comments
Comments are closed.