British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Sunday pledged more technical support and funding to help Pakistan and India battle terrorism in the wake of the Mumbai attacks that killed more than 160 people. Brown made the offers as he made whirlwind visits to both nations' capitals and tried to calm tensions following the assaults, which India has blamed on a Pakistani-based Islamist group. Brown urged the nuclear-armed rivals to cooperate to peacefully resolve the crisis, which the US fears could divert Pakistan's attention away from battling Al-Qaeda and Taleban militants along its border with Afghanistan. In Pakistan, Brown met with President Asif Ali Zardari and promised the Muslim nation new bomb-scanning technology, forensic assistance, help improving airport security and other support. He also announced a $9 million program to help fight the causes of extremism and strengthen democracy, including trying to reach out to and educate Pakistani youth to avoid radicalization. “We will continue to expand our counterterrorism assistance program with Pakistan, and it will be, more than ever, the most comprehensive anti-terrorism program Britain has signed with any country,” Brown said at a joint news conference with Zardari. Brown also said he discussed similar assistance with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier Sunday, including help against radicalization, airport security improvements and better information sharing to fight terrorism. He said he was “reassured that the leaders of both countries want to choose the path of peace and reconciliation.” For Britain, which has a large South Asian population and colonial-era links to the region, extremist activity here is of vital concern. Three-quarters of the most serious terror plots investigated by British authorities have links to Al-Qaeda in Pakistan, Brown said. The investigations included the trans-Atlantic airliner plot, where a group of men were accused of trying to blow up several airliners. Three of four British-born men who carried out the London suicide bombings that killed 52 commuters in 2005 had family ties to Pakistan. British citizens were also among the dead in the Mumbai attacks. “All of us suffer when terrorists are active and are able to impose their will,” Brown said. Brown said he asked Singh if he would allow British authorities to question the only known surviving gunman in the Mumbai massacre, and asked Zardari for similar cooperation with arrested suspects. Neither leader publicly responded to the request. India has blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamic group for the attacks, an assertion Brown echoed.
