Friday, April 10, 2009

British Leader Urges Pakistan to Step Up Anti-Terrorism Effort


British leader Gordon Brown has called on Pakistan to do more to strengthen its counter terrorism efforts in the wake of the arrest of 12 suspects in Britain on Wednesday.Following the police operation that netted a dozen male suspects on Wednesday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown maintains that a "very big terrorist plot" had been thwarted.Those suspects, men ranging from their teens to the early 40s, continue to be questioned.Eleven of the 12 are Pakistani nationals. Most were in the Britain on student visas.Prime Minister Brown is urging Pakistan to do more in the fight against terrorism."Increasingly we have seen terrorist links with Pakistan and Britain. I will be talking to the Pakistan President Mr. Zardari," Brown said. "We want the closest of cooperation between Britain and Pakistan to deal with countering terrorism and I think one of the lessons we are learning from the events of the last few years is that Pakistan has got to do more to root out the terrorist elements in its country as well."But Pakistan's High Commissioner to the U.K. Wajid Shamsul Hasan says his country is already doing enough, it is Britain he says that needs to do more."We are already doing every day we are raiding people. We are arresting people," he said. "We are arresting suspects wherever we find them."Police forensic teams continue to scour 14 locations in northwest England. A number of British newspapers speculate that various Manchester shopping centers and a nightclub may have been targets. But police officials refuse to give out details, saying only that action was taken in the face of a perceived threat.Britain's top counter terrorism chief inadvertently tipped off the media that such a police operation was imminent when his detailed notes were exposed to cameras outside of Ten Downing Street. He resigned the next day.

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