ABSTRACT
Many key international terrorists active in the West since the late 1990s, including the 7 July 2005 bombers in London, have shown linkages with the country of Pakistan. For Britain, these are facilitated by cultural and ethnic ties with the Pakistani community ‐ the largest Muslim group in the UK. President Musharraf rejects the notion that his country is a “hub for international terrorism”. In this paper I will disagree, arguing that a complex and explosive security situation has evolved in Pakistan which acts as a seedbed for an extremist, violent, Islamist politics. Many of the militant groups in Pakistan have links with Al Qaeda and an interest in exporting violent Jihad. The linkages between conditions and organisations in Pakistan and the acts of terrorism in the West cannot be ignored. In tackling the terrorist problem, Britain and its partners must use a range of approaches to confront the security situation in Pakistan, and must also attack links between extremist groups there and communities in the West.