LONDON, Dec 6: Britain and Pakistan agreed on Monday that terrorism was not acceptable whatever the cause and said there was a need for a concerted international effort to tackle the root causes of terrorism by providing people with a greater stake in democracy and development of their own societies.

A joint statement issued here after a two-hour meeting at 10 Downing Street between President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Tony Blair said the British leader had welcomed the former's commitment to continuing the process of democratization in Pakistan.

The president, who is here on a three-day official visit to UK on the invitation of Mr Blair, agreed with the prime minister on the need for judicious resolution of conflicts, including in the Middle East and South Asia.

At the press conference which followed the Downing Street meeting, the prime minister while disclosing that a new scheme was on the anvil for resolving the Middle East problem said President Musharraf's counsel would be sought in the making of this scheme. He refrained from disclosing the details of the scheme on the grounds that it would be premature.

On being pressed on the issue of the role of Kashmiris in peace talks, Mr Blair said his country would go by what the two major players would decide but felt that since the Kashmiris were the ones who would be living with the solution he would expect them to be on board.

The prime minister encouraged further efforts to find a lasting resolution of issues between Pakistan and India, including over Jammu and Kashmir, taking into account the wishes of the Kashmiris. The two leaders agreed that resolution of the Kashmir issue would help establish durable peace in the region.

There was consensus that relationship between Islamabad and London should be broadened into a re-energized partnership for peace and prosperity in the 21st century. The two leaders affirmed their commitment to the Commonwealth Harare principles.

The president and the prime minister agreed to hold an annual summit-level meeting between their countries and to explore new areas of bilateral cooperation. They pledged to work towards the objective of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery. The two countries would initiate a bilateral strategic dialogue on these issues.

President Musharraf and Prime Minister Blair agreed on the need for a fair trading regime, providing for greater market access in a way that allows developing countries to reap substantial benefits of an increasingly open world economy.

The two reaffirmed their commitment to support Afghanistan's democratic election and recognized that a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan would have benefits for the whole region.

The premier commended Pakistan for its constructive role in the Afghan election, especially the arrangement for refugee voting in Pakistan. He also praised the president's statesmanship in seeking to resolve Pakistan's outstanding issues with India, and welcomed the progress made by both sides since January in the ongoing composite dialogue process.

The two agreed on the need to encourage bona fide travel between their countries as a means of fostering strong people-to-people links, but to clamp down on those who tried to cheat the system. To this end the prime minister and the president agreed to conclude as soon as possible a Memorandum of Understanding on immigration issues, re-documentation and resolution of cases.

The main issue that came under discussion at the press conference repeatedly was terrorism with President Musharraf claiming that Pakistan was already winning the war on terror.

Both the leaders said that there was a short-term military approach to the issue - which, they added, was happening at the moment in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan - as well as a long-term approach which would entail attacking the root causes of the problem.

They agreed that these root causes were linked to poverty, deprivation and denial of freedom to people. Gen Musharraf specially mentioned Palestine and Kashmir issues in this context.

The president said that Pakistan was winning its war against terrorism and had already apprehended 600 or so terrorists and now only the third tier leaders were being rounded up in the operation clean-up.

In reply to a question if the Iraq policy of UK and US had not failed and that it now needed a new strategy, both Prime Minister Blair and President Musharraf defended the policy of using military methods in the short run and said democratization of Iraq was the ultimate aim of military operations.