Unfazed by an official protest lodged by Islamabad against his comments, Britain today said Prime Minister David Cameron stood by his remarks asking Pakistan to stop exporting terror and will not back away or apologise.
“He stands by his remarks,” said a spokeswoman on the eve of President Asif Ali Zardari’s official visit here.
“He (Mr. Cameron) was referring to elements within Pakistan supporting terrorism and not the Pakistan government,” she said after the British High Commissioner in Islamabad Adam Thomson had been summoned by Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
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Earlier, media reports here quoting Downing Street sources said that Mr. Cameron would not back away from his comments on Islamabad exporting terror as “he meant it”.
Relations between London and Islamabad soured last week when Mr. Cameron while on an official visit to India said Pakistan could not be permitted to “look both ways” in promoting the export of terror, while publicly working for stability in the region.
Mr. Cameron in public remarks in Bangalore had said “We cannot tolerate in any sense that this country (Pakistan) is allowed to look both ways and is able in any way to promote the export of terror.”
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His strong comments came after a massive U.S. intelligence leaks that alleged links between Pakistan’s powerful ISI and Taliban terror group in Afghanistan.
The stand-off between the two countries came as Mr. Zardari arrived in Paris for a five-day difficult trip to Paris and London.
Mr. Zardari is scheduled to go ahead with his trip to Britain on Tuesday and is scheduled to meet Mr. Cameron at his country residence Chequers on Friday, despite demands back home in Pakistan that he cancel the visit as done by ISI chief Lt. Gen. Shuja Pasha.