Brown reveals that 75 per cent of terrorist plots investigated by Britain have links to Pakistan

By Ian Drury

Three-quarters of the most serious terror plots investigated by Britain have links to Pakistan, Gordon Brown revealed yesterday.

He told President Asif Ali Zardari that Pakistan had to do much more to clamp down on militants sheltering within its borders.

The Premier spoke out as he revealed British police want to question the sole surviving gunman being held over the Mumbai terror attacks which killed at least 170 people, including one Briton.

The Pakistan-based extremist group Lashkar-e-Taiba was responsible for the 'terrible terror outrages' in the Indian city last month, he said after talks with the president in Islamabad.

Gordon Brown says Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari must step up his government's efforts to target Al Qaeda

He also unveiled a ?6million 'pact against terror' deal with Pakistan which will include money to help the country combat car bomb attacks and educate people away from extremism.

Mr Brown flew to Pakistan from the Indian capital New Delhi where he had held talks with prime minister Manmohan Singh amid mounting tensions between the Asian neighbours in the wake of the terrorist outrage.

Announcing the funding, Mr Brown said: 'We will work to ensure that everything is done to make sure that terrorists are denied any safe haven in Pakistan.

'The time has come for action and not words and I want to help Pakistan and other countries to root out terrorism.

'Let me just emphasise why we in Britain have an interest in making Pakistan more secure.

'People in Britain know that what can happen in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan can affect directly what happens in the streets of our cities and towns.

'I am grateful to President Zardari for agreeing with me that we must do everything in our power, because all of us suffer when terrorists are active and are able to impose their will.'

The Prime Minister stressed that 75 per cent of the most serious terror plots investigated by the British police and security authorities had links to Al Qaeda in Pakistan.

He described Pakistan's border region with Afghanistan as one end of a 'chain of terror' that could stretch to the streets of the UK.

Gordon Brown flew to Pakistan after meeting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, pictured

Mr Brown said President Zardari had 'reassured' him that the Pakistani authorities were determined to root out the extremists behind the Mumbai attacks.

Islamabad has pledged to take 'strong action' against terrorists but it has called on India to share more information about the atrocity.

The Prime Minister also confirmed that British police wanted to interrogate Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab, the Pakistani gunman who was captured while taking part in the massacre.

Downing Street insiders pointed out that the UK had a right to quiz the suspect as a crime had been committed against a UK citizen, Andreas Liveras, the businessman killed in Mumbai.

Mr Brown said he would await a response from both leaders about whether they would be happy for British detectives to grill suspects.

Measures agreed in New Delhi were extra co-operation on airport security and protecting big public events, such as the 2010 Commonwealth games in Delhi and the 2012 London Olympics.

On Saturday, Mr Brown made a surprise visit to Afghanistan. He told troops that wherever there was terrorism, it had to be fought.

The Prime Minister's trip to Helmand Province came a day after four Royal Marines were killed in two separate bomb attacks.

Mr Brown spoke of his 'disgust and horror' at the willingness of the Taliban to use a 13-year-old child to deliver a bomb in a wheelbarrow to a Marine patrol, killing three soldiers and the boy.

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