WORLD> Asia-Pacific
Britain promises more anti-terror aid to Pakistan
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-14 20:03

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown met Pakistan and India's leaders Sunday, pledging more counterterrorism support and funding in the wake of deadly terror attacks in India that killed more than 160 people.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani (R) shake hands with Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown in Islamabad, December 14, 2008. [Agencies]

Brown promised Pakistan new bomb-scanning technology and some $9 million worth of assistance to help fight the causes of extremism and strengthen democracy. He also said more would be done with both India and Pakistan to share police data on terror suspects and groups.

Nearly three-quarters of the most serious terror plots investigated by British authorities have links to the al-Qaida terror network in Pakistan, Brown said.

Two of the latest plots that lead back to Pakistan have been a trans-Atlantic airliner plot where a group of men were accused of trying to blow up several airliners and the deadly attacks in India's commercial capital of Mumbai late last month.

"This is a chilling reminder that we are all victims of terrorism," Brown said in a joint news conference with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, whose wife Benazir Bhutto was killed during a terror attack last year after returning from exile.

India has blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamic group for the Mumbai attacks and called on Pakistan to crack down on militants operating out of its territory.

Pakistan has arrested some alleged plotters and taken other steps against a charity claimed to be linked to Lashkar, but it is pressing India to provide evidence to aid in prosecutions.

Brown said he asked Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whom he had breakfast with on Sunday, if he would allow British authorities to question the only known surviving gunman in the Mumbai massacre. It was a request he said he would leave with Singh.

He said he also asked Zadari for the same cooperation.

According to India, the 10 gunmen were from Pakistan, as were the handlers, masterminds, weapons, and financing.

India finds itself in the awkward position of having to investigate terrorist attacks hand-in-hand with its longtime nemesis. The two countries have fought three wars against each other since independence. Despite a peace process that began in 2004, tensions remain high.