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LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron will call for a new start in relations with Pakistan on Tuesday, eight months after sparking a diplomatic row by saying Pakistan should not be allowed to “look both ways” on terrorism.
Cameron, who made those controversial comments on a trip to India in July 2010, will meet Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani in Islamabad, seeking to improve co-operation on counter-terrorism operations and Afghanistan.
“Let's make today a 'fresh start' in our relationship,” Cameron will say in a speech, according to extracts released by his office.
“It is time for a new step in relations between Britain and Pakistan, and between Britons and Pakistanis.”
“Let's clear up the misunderstandings of the past, work through the tensions of the present and look together to the opportunities of the future.”
The British government has justified its involvement in the war in Afghanistan by saying the majority of terrorist plots uncovered in Britain have their roots in the lawless Afghan-Pakistan border region.
Cameron said in Bangalore last July that “we cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that this country (Pakistan) is allowed to look both ways and is able, in any way, to promote the export of terror, whether to India or whether to Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world.”
Cameron and Zardari attempted to smooth over the row that followed when the Pakistani leader visited London in August.
“I acknowledge that there are challenges that our friendship must overcome,” Cameron will say on Tuesday, calling the relationship with Pakistan “unbreakable”.
“Whether it's relations with India, our security or questions of governance, if we work closely with one another, if we're clear that we need each other to succeed, we can grasp these difficult issues and move beyond them to a better future.”
