Pakistan urges Britain to step up terror fight

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday pressed Britain to do more to help the fight against violent Islamic extremism, as the two countries’ leaders held talks Friday in London.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari discussed tightening ties between London and Islamabad in the battle against Islamist militants operating on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“Now we say: do more for us. Do more to fight terrorism in the world because we think the terrorists do not have any religion or any boundary,” Malik said after the talks at Brown’s Downing Street office.

Malik was present as Brown and Zardari held their first meeting since May, at which the president stressed the fight against Taliban militants in the tribal border lands would be a long-term struggle.A Downing Street spokesman said: “Our highest priority in Pakistan is to work with the Pakistani government to tackle the threat of violent extremism in its border areas with Afghanistan.“The Pakistan government and the Pakistan army are already taking intensified action against the Taliban and the prime minister made clear his support.”

Brown and Zardari agreed the need “to tackle the underlying causes of extremism,” he added.

The British premier also reiterated London’s support for Pakistani efforts and repeated a funding commitment of 665 million pounds (1.1 billion dollars, 760 million euros) over four years.

“Our development programme in Pakistan is our second largest in the world; we aim to spend around half of this in the critical border areas,” said the spokesman.“There requires a comprehensive approach including better governance, economic development such as a single financing mechanism, and when necessary appropriate military pressure.”

Zardari’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the president had emphasised the need to upgrade Pakistan’s capabilities in the battle against militants.“He also said that Pakistan will continue to work with the international community for stabilisation of Afghanistan after the elections in that country,” Babar told reporters.“Brown appreciated that in Pakistan there was a national consensus in fighting against the militants and he called it a key element in the fight against militancy.”

-AFP