Brown offers India, Pakistan help against militants

In talks with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in Islamabad and earlier with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, Brown offered both countries help in tightening security and combatting terrorism.

Brown said he had asked Singh and Zardari for permission for British police to question suspects arrested in both countries over the militant attack on Mumbai, India's financial centre.

India has blamed the Pakistan based group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the three-day assault in which about 180 people were killed. Brown backed that charge on Sunday.

Speaking in the Pakistani capital, Brown offered British support in fighting militants, including bomb disposal and airport security help, and a 6 million pound (US$8.5 million) programme to tackle the causes of radicalisation through education.

These measures would help to "break the chain of terror that links the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan to the streets of the UK," he said.

Britain, the former colonial ruler, has a large population of Pakistani origin and British security forces fear its Muslim communities are a recruiting ground for Islamist militants.

Brown also offered India help with forensic investigation and airport security. He offered cooperation on security at major sporting events -- India hosts the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and London holds the Olympics in 2012.

Indian prime minister Singh said India wanted good relations with Pakistan but he urged Islamabad to do more to eradicate militant groups operating on its soil.

"We want to normalise our relations with Pakistan," Singh told a state election rally in the Kashmiri town of Khandroo.

"There are some people in Pakistan who are always trying to launch such bloody attacks."

Islamabad has blamed "non-state actors" for the Mumbai attacks and said it will cooperate with investigations.



Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

PrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email