Pakistan, Russia concerned at rising IS threat

Pakistan and Russia on Wednesday expressed grave concerns over the rising threat posed by Daesh and sought the regional countries to cooperate to jointly counter the threat. The high officials of both Pakistan and Russia expressed these concerns during the 7th Meeting of the Pakistan-Russia Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism, which was held here at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal, Pakistani side was led by Ahmad Farooq, Director General Counter-Terrorism, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while the Russian side was led by Ilya Rogachev, Director Department for New Challenges of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Both delegations included officials from relevant departments dealing with counter-terrorism.
He said that the two sides discussed a wide ranging agenda covering the counter-terrorism situation at the regional and global level, actions taken by both countries to tackle the menace of terrorism as well as bilateral cooperation on the issue.
"There was broad agreement on the fact that terrorism is a common global threat which requires cooperative efforts of the international community for effectively eradicating it," the spokesperson said.
"Both sides expressed grave concern over the rising threat posed by Daesh. While major successes had been achieved in the fight against Daesh in Syria and Iraq, the returning Daesh fighters from the conflict zones to countries of origin or third countries constituted a major security threat to various parts of the world, including this region," he said, adding that it was stated that it is important for countries of the region to cooperate to counter this threat.
He said that Pakistani side briefed the Russian delegation about the major successes it had achieved in the fight against terrorism through kinetic actions as well as implementation of the National Action Plan on counter-terrorism.
This has resulted in significantly improving the security situation in Pakistan, he said, adding that the Russian side highly appreciated Pakistan's contribution to the global fight against terrorism.
The two sides reaffirmed the commitment for promoting bilateral cooperation for countering terrorism, he said, adding that they also agreed to cooperate at the United Nations and other international fora for combating terrorism. He said that the discussions were held in a cordial and frank manner and there was commonality of views on all issues. It was agreed that the next meeting of the JWG would be held in Moscow in 2019, he added.