UK rejects Pakistan criticism on counter-terrorism

By Frank Prenesti

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain rejected Pakistani criticism over security screening on Friday as police in northwest England investigated a suspected al Qaeda plot involving Pakistani nationals who entered on student visas.

Immigration minister Phil Woolas described as a "red herring" criticism from Pakistan's high commissioner of British checks on foreign students.

Responding to British demands that Pakistan do more to combat terrorism, the diplomat, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, said Pakistani authorities could help carry out background checks on student visa applicants but had not been allowed to.

"It is at your end, you have to do something more...Every day we are raiding people...we are arresting suspects wherever we find them," Hasan told BBC television. "If they allow us to make inquiries first, if they ask us to scrutinise those people who are seeking visas, we can help them."

In a major counter-terrorism operation, police on Wednesday arrested 12 people including 11 Pakistani nationals, all but one of whom were on student visas. None has yet been charged. Police said on Friday they were searching a 10th address, in the northwest city of Liverpool.

Most terrorist plots in Britain since September 11, 2001 have had links to Pakistan, including suicide bombings in July 2005 which killed 52 people on London's underground and bus network.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown told Al Jazeera television that "most of al Qaeda's base is in Pakistan" and "we need all the cooperation that we have with the Pakistani authorities" to deal with terrorists operating from that country.

ORDERS FROM PAKISTAN