National criminal laws and enforcement practices were needed to be modernized in line with global standards, said Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director General (DG) Muhammad Tahir Rai while speaking at an FIA-organized ceremony at the Agency headquarters in Islamabad on Friday.
According to a press release issued here, the ceremony was organized to mark the 4th anniversary of the passage of Pakistan’s two landmark internationally-recognized UN-compliant laws on human trafficking and migrant smuggling.
Former Additional Director General, Immigration, Tariq Nawaz Malik, who spearheaded the Agency’s efforts in drafting and passage of these laws in the Parliament, also participated in the ceremony along with senior officials of the FIA.
DG Rai said Pakistan’s experience with the Financial Action Task Force’s “Grey List” and the US State Department’s “Trafficking in Persons Watch List” were important reminders that our legal system could no longer operate in isolation from the global trends, and that we have to bring our domestic law enforcement at par with international police standards.
The DG commended Tariq Malik’s past efforts that culminated in the passage of these critical legislations that helped save Pakistan from the US State Department sanctions, which appeared imminent in early 2018.
Tariq Malik echoed the remarks of DG FIA and stated that domestic law enforcement could benefit greatly by adopting international best practices and through greater international police cooperation made possible by organizations such as Interpol.
Referring to the respective laws on migrant smuggling and human trafficking, he said that they could not have been drafted without the technical support of UNODC Country Office, Pakistan.
Highlighting the role that Interpol could play in supporting Pakistan law enforcement agencies, he revealed that during the past few weeks Interpol was instrumental in catching around 10 Pakistani criminals who had fled abroad, including several fugitives who were arrested during Interpol’s “Infra Zajil” operation which was organized at the Gulf Cooperation Council Police Headquarters in UAE last week.
At the end of the ceremony, the DG FIA presented a shield to Tariq Malik in acknowledgment of his services towards modernization of national laws.
