David Cameron in Faisal Mosque
A news in Daily mail gave me a pleasant surprise. David Cameron! you won our hearts!!!
David Cameron today declared Britain responsible for the creation of ‘many’ of the world’s problems as he sought to extend a hand of friendship to Pakistan.
After unveiling plans to pour £650m into the country’s education system in a move seen to be an attempt to quell an earlier spat over terrorism, Mr Cameron appeared to accept that the legacy of the British Empire was responsible for the bitter struggle for Kashmir.
In a press conference with Pakistani leader Yusuf Raza Gilani, Mr Cameron took pains to ease feathers ruffled by his earlier attack as he faced tough questioning from Pakistani journalists over his ‘obnoxious’ comments.
Asked what the UK could do to help end Pakistan’s long-running stand-off with India over the disputed territory, Mr Cameron said that he wished the two countries well and wanted them to ‘resolve the outstanding differences and do so in a way that is right for all people in Kashmir’.
But he added: ‘I don’t want to insert Britain into some leading role.
‘As with so many of the problems of the world, we are responsible for their creation in the first place.’
Mr Cameron and Mr Gilani signed an Enhanced Strategic Dialogue document including a pledge to increase trade to £2.5 billion by 2015.
And the first meeting of the UK-Pakistan National Security Dialogue was held, bringing together military and intelligence chiefs with political leaders from both sides.
In his speech, Mr Cameron said he ‘saluted the resilience of the Pakistani people’ after 3,000 terror deaths in the past year alone.
‘It’s a tragic fact that, in the past year, over 3,000 Pakistani civilians have lost their lives in terrorist attacks,’ he said.
‘And even more of your own soldiers and security forces have died fighting this same extremism here in Pakistan than the international forces have lost in Afghanistan.
‘Few countries have suffered at the hands of this terrorism like yours – as we saw again this weekend, with the cowardly attack which murdered dozens of innocent people at the Sakhi Sarwar shrine.
‘And no country is more ready to stand with you in your fight against this terrorism than Britain. That’s why it’s right that neither the Pakistan army nor Nato forces must ever tolerate sanctuaries for people plotting violence.’
Radicalisation is a ‘shared problem’ which Britain and Pakistan have to tackle together, he said. Britain will stand ‘four square’ behind those trying to build a more democratic Pakistan and will always support the country’s civil society.
Mr Cameron said he intended his visit to mark ‘a new chapter in the relationship between our two countries’.
Britain wants ‘a strong relationship with a secure, prosperous, open and flourishing Pakistan’, he said.
