United Kingdom (UK) Government should encourage legal modes of migration in order to control the problem of human smuggling.
Federal Minster for Interior and Narcotics Control, Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat said this in a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw here on Thursday.
British High Commissioner to Pakistani Mark Lyall Grant was also present on the occasion.
Faisal said, "the people who go abroad incur huge expenditures and even risk their lives for a better future. We have to facilitate them through orderly migration and some meaningful legal channel needs to be devised to discourage the human smuggling syndicates."
He apprised the visiting minister about the steps Pakistan had taken to control the problem including securing along its borders and the issuance of computerised identity papers to Pakistanis.
He said that in the near future government would also start issuing international standard machine Readable Passports.
Talking about narcotics control, Faisal said that if immediate steps were not taken to kill present poppy crop in Afghanistan, the situation might grow out of proportions in the near future.
He said that Pakistan has had excellent relations with the UK in the past and would like them to prosper in the time to come.
He appreciated the decision of the UK government to open full visa service in Pakistan from May 1 and requested the British Foreign Secretary to consider setting up visa offices in Karachi and Lahore as well.
This will go a long way in improving relations between the two countries," he added.
Jack Straw expressed British government's satisfaction over security conditions in Pakistan.
Resumption of flights of British Airways three months ago and revision of Britain's travel advisory for Pakistan are a clear manifestation of the growing trust of international community in Pakistan's current leadership, Straw said.
Faisal Saleh Hayat said these negotiations would provide a solid base for the Joint Working Group between the two countries and would set the course for future relations.
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