KARACHI, July 21: British government does not blame any state or religion for the July 7 bombings in London where 56 people had been killed and 36 others injured, Peter Wilson, Political Counsellor at the British High Commission in Islamabad, said on Thursday. “There is a connection with Pakistan. We are not overstating it, and we are following up other leads, too. But as we follow up connections that do lead here, government of Pakistan has gone out of its way to assist us,” he said while addressing members of the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs at a meeting presided over by Chairman of the institute Fatehyab Ali Khan.

British Deputy High Commissioner in Karachi Clair Hamish was also present.

Mr Wilson said: “I can say that no one connected to London bombings has been arrested in Pakistan in the last 48 hours. The two bombers came to Pakistan, one in 2003, both in November 2004 to February 2005. The two flew to Karachi and returned through Karachi. A family member said one had spent time in a madressah in Lahore.”

The diplomat said that Britain and Pakistan both faced scourge of terrorism and extremism. “We face it together and need to clamp down on extremists. But we also need to tackle causes of this extremism and defeat evil ideology that has motivated these attacks.”

He called for supporting enlightened moderation on which President Pervez Musharraf has been quite active, particularly among Muslim countries.

He said the bombers appeared to have been motivated by a perverted ideology. They carried out the bombings in the name of Islam. “We know this is not Islam, nor is it Jihad. We must send a clear message to the terrorists: you speak for no one but yourselves, and you unite us against you.”

Mr Wilson called for giving people a stake in their communities, saying: “We now have four Muslim MPs in British parliament and many Muslim counsellors, but we don’t have enough Muslim police.”—PPI