Give and take: Blair and Musharraf forge terror pact

LAHORE: The visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Pakistani President General Musharraf have said that besides using military means to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, there is a need to employ other means as well including political ones.

Addressing a joint press conference in Lahore after a one on one meeting, the two leaders said that Britain and Pakistan must work closely together to come to fight terrorism and religious extremism.

The British Premier said that the British forces will continue battling the Taliban in Afghanistan to prevent the spread of extremism. Besides employing military means, he said, efforts are being made to tackle the problem politically. He said “the terrorism that we are facing, of which one manifestation is what is happening in Afghanistan, will take a long time to defeat”. Blair said that Britain would continue to help Pakistan in economic development. He commended Musharraf’s efforts to make Pakistan a modern progressive country and his role in the ongoing Indo-Pak peace process.

Speaking on the occasion, General Musharraf rejected allegations that Pakistan was not doing enough to help defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan. He denied having stated that the Taliban could not be defeated in Afghanistan. “We are waging a war against the Taliban and will defeat them eventually”, he said and added that the war against Taliban could not be won through military means alone. He stressed that other means like diplomacy, economic development and reconstructions should also be used to defeat extremists.

He said the Taliban problem is an Afghan problem which is being supported by elements from Pakistani side. He said Pakistan was doing all it could to prevent extremists from the Pakistani side in aiding those fighting in Afghanistan. Musharraf acknowledged that his government needed to do much more to stamp out the threat, saying “We need to put our house in order on our side”.

Earlier, the British Prime Minister and the Pakistani President signed a bilateral agreement to further strengthen mutual cooperation in the international war on terror. The Lahore meeting between the PM Blair and General Musharraf marked the third round of bilateral summit consultations as agreed in the joint statement issued during General Musharraf’s December 2004 visit to England. The two leaders discussed the present situation in Afghanistan, stability along the Pak-Afghan border and closer cooperation and consultations to deal with the growing challenges on terrorism front. Both the leaders agreed on new plans to tackle growing extremism and a new push on Pak-UK intelligence sharing to counter terrorism.

In a joint communique issued following their talks in Lahore, the two leaders agreed to curb the violence through effective action against the militant Taliban in Afghanistan. Blair warmly thanked General Musharraf for Pakistan’s important role in helping to foil the alleged Heathrow bomb plot last August this year.

The British PM also expressed his thanks for the increasingly close co-operation of the Pakistani authorities in assisting with bringing criminal cases in the UK. He offered Britain’s full support to Pakistan in countering terrorism, including exchanges on forensic training, investigating the financing of terrorism and the sharing of crisis management expertise.

Tony Blair said Britain would provide two MI17 helicopters to help Pakistan’s anti-narcotics force for use in anti-smuggling operations along the Pak-Afghan border. The two leaders agreed to form a joint working group between the British Home Office and Pakistani interior ministry to strengthen cooperation on counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism and illegal immigration.