Author:
Publication: BBC News
Date: December 14, 2008
URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/7782125.stm
Three-quarters of the most serious terror
plots being investigated by UK authorities have links to Pakistan, UK Prime
Minister Gordon Brown has said.
He was unveiling a £6m ($8.9m) deal
with Pakistan he called "the most comprehensive anti-terrorist programme"
between the UK and another country.
He is in Pakistan meeting President Asif Ali
Zardari, following talks with India's premier Manmohan Singh.
UK police want to quiz a Pakistani suspect
in the Mumbai attacks.
They want to interview Mohammed Ajmal Amir
Qasab - the sole gunman taken alive - about terror groups operating from Pakistan.
Mr Brown's series of meetings in the region
came as Pakistan accused India of violating its airspace.
India has denied this but has announced a
security overhaul. It blames Pakistan-based militants for the Mumbai attacks,
which killed at least 170 people, including one Briton.
Mr Brown said he had wanted to express his
condolence for the Mumbai attacks at first hand.
'Work together'
He said the "terrible terror outrages"
had shocked the whole world and the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant
group, thought to be responsible, had "a great deal to answer for".
He added: "No country should have to
go through what India has had to go through as a result of the Mumbai outrages.
"I've said to Prime Minister Singh we
will give every help that we can. We will work together in tackling terrorism.
And we will work together on issue of security. We also know that there have
been arrests in Pakistan.
"We also know that the group responsible
is LeT and that they have a great deal to answer for."
India has urged Pakistan to take action over
the recent attacks.
Pakistan denies any involvement, but has promised
to co-operate with the Indian investigation.
Mr Zardari has pledged to take "strong
action" against terrorists, but has also called on India to share more
information about the attacks.
Partnership plan
During a news conference in Islamabad with
Mr Zardari, Mr Brown proposed the start of a new partnership with Pakistan
to fight terrorism.
The "pact against terror" funding
will go towards anti-car bomb equipment and material to educate people out
of becoming extremists, he said.
"The time has come for action and not
words, and I want to help Pakistan and other countries root out terrorism.
"In return for this action we will continue
to expand our counter-terrorist assistance programme with Pakistan, and it
will be more than ever, the most comprehensive anti-terrorist programme Britain
has signed with any country."
Speaking during a surprise visit to Afghanistan
on Saturday, Mr Brown said wherever there was terrorism, it had to be fought.
He described Pakistan's border region with
the country, where he met troops fighting the Taleban, as one end of a "chain
of terror" that could stretch to Britain if more was not done to tackle
the threat of al-Qaeda.
The prime minister's visit to Afghanistan
came a day after four Royal Marines were killed in two separate bomb attacks.
Mr Brown spoke of his "disgust and horror"
at the willingness of the Taleban to use a 13-year-old child to deliver a
bomb in a wheelbarrow to a Marine patrol, killing three men and the boy.
The PM is expected to update MPs on the security
situation in Afghanistan in a statement to the House of Commons on Monday.