{"id":1163447,"date":"2026-02-16T16:52:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T11:52:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.app.com.pk\/national\/pakistan-sri-lanka-to-deepen-cooperation-in-sports-security-counter-narcotics\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T16:52:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T11:52:45","slug":"pakistan-sri-lanka-to-deepen-cooperation-in-sports-security-counter-narcotics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/2026\/02\/16\/pakistan-sri-lanka-to-deepen-cooperation-in-sports-security-counter-narcotics\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan, Sri Lanka to deepen cooperation in sports, security, counter-narcotics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">ISLAMABAD, Feb 16 (APP): Federal Interior Minister and Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Mohsin Naqvi held key meetings with Sri Lankan Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Sunil Kumara Gamage and Interior Minister Ananda Wijeyapala during his official visit to Colombo, agreeing to enhance cooperation across sports, security and counter-narcotics sectors.<br \/>\nIn his meeting with the Sri Lankan Sports Minister, Naqvi discussed expanding bilateral collaboration for the promotion of sports, especially cricket. Both sides agreed to strengthen institutional linkages with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Sports and to work jointly for the development of cricket and other games.<br \/>\n\u201cWarmth is growing in Pakistan\u2013Sri Lanka relations, and cricket will further strengthen our ties,\u201d Naqvi said, appreciating Sri Lanka\u2019s exceptional arrangements for the T20 World Cup. He also thanked the Sri Lankan government and people for their \u201cremarkable hospitality\u201d and formally invited the Sri Lankan Sports Minister to visit Pakistan.<br \/>\nPakistan\u2019s High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, Major General (Retd.) Faheem-ul-Aziz, Advisor to PCB Chairman Aamir Mir, PCB COO Sameer Ahmed and PSL CEO Salman Naseer were also present during the meeting.<br \/>\nLater, Naqvi met Sri Lankan Interior Minister Ananda Wijeyapala, who welcomed him warmly at the Ministry of Interior. The two ministers reviewed avenues for deepening cooperation in internal security, counterterrorism and counter-narcotics.<br \/>\nThey also discussed forming joint strategies to combat cybercrimes and financial fraud networks, and agreed to boost coordination to curb illegal immigration and drug trafficking.<br \/>\nDuring the talks, Naqvi offered training opportunities for Sri Lankan police officers at Pakistan\u2019s National Police Academy, noting that training exchange programmes would significantly enhance the capacity of law enforcement agencies in both countries.<br \/>\n\u201cCooperation between the interior ministries will open new avenues in bilateral relations,\u201d Naqvi stated, adding that Pakistan and Sri Lanka must work closely to counter the growing challenges of cyber and financial crimes.<br \/>\nNaqvi invited the Sri Lankan Interior Minister to visit Pakistan and conveyed gratitude for the warm hospitality extended during his visit. The Sri Lankan minister affirmed his commitment to strengthening cooperation with Pakistan in all areas of mutual interest.<br \/>\nThe visit marked a significant step toward expanding Pakistan-Sri Lanka partnership across multiple sectors, with both sides expressing optimism for deeper collaboration in the months ahead.<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pakistan, Sri Lanka to deepen cooperation in sports, security, counter-narcotics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1163494,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pmpro_default_level":"","_speechable_audio":"","_speechable_word_timings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[5175,9065],"post_template":[],"top_category":[],"class_list":["post-1163447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-pakistan-cricket-board","tag-sunil-kumara-gamage","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1163447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1163447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1163447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1163494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1163447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1163447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1163447"},{"taxonomy":"post_template","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_template?post=1163447"},{"taxonomy":"top_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/top_category?post=1163447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}