British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari will discuss ways and means to counter insurgency in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan as Britain strongly supports the strategy being adopted by the new democratic government of Pakistan to rid the western border of this menace.
This was stated by Jack Straw, British Secretary of State for Justice while giving lecture on "Pakistan and the United Kingdom: A Living Bridge" at International Islamic University here on Tuesday.
To a question on British Premier's support to recent US attacks inside Pakistani territory, he said "British forces operate inside Afghanistan, as rules of engagements do not permit coalition troops to enter Pakistan's territory. British premier Gordon Brown said nothing like this, but there might be Pak-US agreement to hunt al Qaeda men if they sneak into the region bordering Pakistan, Straw added.
Earlier in his opening remarks he said that Islam is the fastest growing religion in UK and Muslims, particularly Pakistanis, contributed a lot towards uplift of British economy. Commenting on democracy in Pakistan Jack Straw said, "assassination of Benazir Bhutto left behind legacy of peaceful democratic Pakistan hence terrorism will not succeed, as future of Pakistan lies in transition to democracy. Effective democratic institutions enhance well being of people", he added.
The countries with standard functioning democracy have per capita income up to 25000 dollars as political stability is must for economic stability, he said. Jack Straw added that the sovereign parliaments ensure independent judiciary as in UK there is no political pressure on judges to change their decisions in favour of the ruling class. In struggle to root out terrorism, people of Pakistan remained at the fore front of this struggle and lost many lives than anybody else fighting extremism and terrorism particularly in the area bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Giving example of freedom struggle in Northern Ireland he said that Irish Republic Army (IRA) defined some political ends, in contrast al Qaeda has no political ends and there is no question of holding negotiations with such an organisation whose sole aim is to spread terror in the world.
He said that one million people of Pakistani origin are residing in Great Britain, therefore, Pakistan's security is our security and future, there are strong cultural and historic ties between the two communities ie British and Pakistan. This could be judged from the fact that many Muslims are members of House of Commons and House of Lords in UK.
The peace and security environment vis-à-vis Islam is much better in UK than the rest of the Europe. I have set up a school for Muslim girls in my constituency, which produces the best results in academic activities. British Secretary of State for Justice said that we were the country which is pleading Turkey's entry into European Union because it is part of European civilisation and it should be given a chance to become member of European Union.
We have plans to build strong economy in the troubled tribal area to give people a chance to have the fruits of development and to live in peace, Straw added. Dr Manzoor Ahmed, Rector, International Islamic University and Dr Mumtaz Ahmed, Head of Allama Iqbal Institute also spoke on the occasion.