Benazir shah, University in Peshawar, Pakistan

Underlining that terror groups are active in Pakistan, the United Kingdom (UK) on Thursday said that Islamabad should do more to take "non-reversible" action against terrorism if it wants to prevent itself from being blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)."All the evidence against Pakistan has been put on the table. Pakistan has taken some action...there has been some progress. Pakistan has to do a lot more and take non-reversible action," Gareth Bayley, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Director for South Asia, said at an interactive session at Raisina Dialogue 2020 here."It is absolutely clear that terrorist groups are operating from within Pakistan. They pose a serious challenge to the Pakistan government and the South Asian region as well," he said.The FATF in 2018 placed Pakistan on the grey list and the watchdog has already granted Islamabad an extension till February 2020 during a meeting in October last year.The body warned that Islamabad would be put on the blacklist if it did not comply with the remaining 22 out of 27 points related to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing.Talking about the developments in the Middle East region, Bayley called for de-escalation and a political settlement between the US and Iran based on international law and rules-based system.Tensions between the US and Iran escalated dramatically after Iran general Qassem Soleim was killed in a drone strike by Washington at Baghdad International Airport earlier this month. Tehran retaliated by firing a volley of missiles at two US-led coalition bases in Iraq.Meanwhile, Bayley said that the UK has a "really deep" counter-terrorism dialogue with India."Britain has foiled 19 terror attacks on its soil. We can share our experience with India just as India has a lot of experience to share," Bayley said.The diplomat batted for an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process to ensure long-lasting stability and tranquility in the region."We need an Afghan led Afghan owned peace process for it to work. We are moving in that direction. If that does not happen, the peace process is bound to fail," Bayley outlined.( With inputs from ANI )

Benazir ShahFOLLOW

Benazir shah, Latest News

India's former Solicitor General and senior advocate Harish Salve has been appointed as Queen's Counsel for the courts of England and Wales. He will be formally appointed as QC in March this year. ...

The controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) contains amendments to five major grounds mentioned in the Citizenship Act, 1955. ...

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is likely to send a member of his government in his place to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting in New Delhi later this year. ...

A special NIA court on March 13 will hold arguments on charges and conduct scrutiny of documents in the terror funding case against Kashmiri separatist leaders Yasin Malik, Masarat Alam, Asiya Andrabi, Shabbir Shah and Rashid Engineer. ...

Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez have returned to the Pakistan side for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Bangladesh. ...

Pakistan's former military dictator Pervez Musharraf on Thursday moved Supreme Court against a special court verdict -- which had handed death sentence to him in a high treason case last year, Dawn reported. ...

Pakistan have recalled the experienced duo of Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik, along with pacer Shaheen Afridi, in a 15-player squad for the three-match T20I series against Bangladesh. ...

Underlining that terror groups are active in Pakistan, the United Kingdom (UK) on Thursday said that Islamabad should do more to take "non-reversible" action against terrorism if it wants to prevent itself from being blacklisted by the Financial Acti ...