LONDON: Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted Thursday that Britain’s spending on counter-terrorism measures in Pakistan was increasing despite the fall in the value of the pound.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown leaves 10 Downing Street, in central London, as he prepares to attend the weekly Minister's Question time in the House of Commons. -AFP Photo
“Counter-terrorism expenditure in Pakistan and generally is increasing this year and will increase next year,” Brown said.
He added: “It is important to recognise our counter-terrorism effort is also linking up the efforts of our police forces here and our border control system, which is keeping the country as safe as possible.”
Brown was speaking the day after Foreign Office minister Glenys Kinnock said programmes to tackle terror attacks and radicalisation in Pakistan had been cut because of the weak value of the British currency.
But on Thursday, Kinnock moved to clarify her remarks, saying the overall Foreign Office budget had been hit by the falling value of the pound, but counter-terrorism spending was increasing.
The Foreign Office’s budget for counter-terrorism in Pakistan will rise from 8.2 million pounds (9.4 million euros, 13.3 million dollars) in 2009-2010 to 9.5 million pounds in 2010-11, she told the House of Lords, the upper house of parliament.
British officials say a number of terror plots aimed at Britain have been planned in and launched from Pakistan.
Kinnock said Pakistan was “by far” the largest recipient of counter-terrorism spending, receiving more than a quarter of the budget.
A “small number” of counter-terrorism projects had been cut or scaled back, but the projects affected had not been “delivering as effectively as our other projects”, she said. -AFP
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