ISLAMABAD, Aug 12: The London bombings have not hit Britain’s ties with Pakistan, which is expected to remain an important ally in the ongoing anti-terrorism struggle, according to the British ambassador to Pakistan.
High Commissioner Mark Lyall Grant told a news conference on Friday that Britain was receiving excellent cooperation from Pakistan in investigations about the bombings.
“Pakistan has been, for some time now led by President Musharraf, a very important ally in the struggle against terrorism with the United Kingdom and other countries,” Mr Grant said. “I expect that to continue to be the case for the future.”
He said it was a wrong thinking to point fingers at both Pakistan and Britain while speculating about the origins of the suicide bombers of July 7 and others who failed on July 17 and the sources of their ‘fanatical ideology’.
“If the events of the last few years teach us anything, it is that extremist terrorism such as occurred last month has nothing to do with a nation’s identity. The people of New York, Madrid, Istanbul, Casablanca and now London with their varied cultures bear testimony to this.”
BOMBERS NOT PAKISTANIS: “The suicide bombers of July 7 were not Pakistani,” he said. “They were British. It is true that three were of Pakistani origin, and that at least two had travelled to Pakistan on a number of occasions. But all the four were brought up, educated and presumably radicalized in the UK. There is no question of blaming Pakistan for these attacks.”
Mr Grant criticized what he called false reports in both the British and Pakistani media ‘designed to drive a wedge between our societies,’ including one that one of the July 7 bombers had not died and appeared on a private TV channel and another that the mastermind behind the bombings had been arrested in Lahore. Both were cases of mistaken identity, he added.
Also untrue were reports that 500 Pakistanis had been deported from Britain or that there was a list of 500 Muslim clerics about to be deported, Mr Grant said.
He said there would be some deportations of radical Muslim clerics ‘but there is no list of 500’.
Asked if any Pakistani or people of Pakistani origin would be among future deportees, he said 11 foreigners had been detained on Thursday and he did not know if any Pakistani was among them.
“This referred only to London and represented an increase from 40 to 270 per cent in a city of more than 10 million people,” he said, adding that most of the incidents had been minor such as graffiti and verbal abuse, with virtually none involving an injury. “Each incident is investigated carefully and the appropriate action taken.”
NO BACKLASH: “It is wrong to suggest that there is backlash against Muslims or those of Pakistani origin in the UK, or that there is some sort of crisis in the UK at the moment,” Mr Grant said.
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.