LONDON British High Commissioner to Pakistan Adam Thomson has said the statement, which was given by Prime Minister David Cameron during his recent trip to India, has nothing to do with Londons defence relations with either Islamabad or New Delhi. Well, he was asked a question, so he answered that question; I dont think that has anything to do with our defence relations with either India or Pakistan. Both of which are really quite good, Thomson told TheNation and Nawa-i-Waqt in an exclusive interview on Wednesday when asked about Camerons statement warning Pakistan against promoting any export of terrorism, whether to India or elsewhere, and Britains military sales - trainer jets - to India worth 500 million pounds. The defence sale that you mentioned in India is simply the next tranche of a pre-existing arrangement to sell Hawk trainer jets and not fighter jets to India Asked about the British governments policy on military sales to Pakistan on that scale, Adam said it was governed by the same sets of rules as London applies to New Delhi which are within the framework set by the European Union. I think if you are saying lower sales to Pakistan than to India, it may reflect the respective strengths of the economies of the defence budgets rather than British policy, he explained. Responding to a question, the British diplomat said the future of democracy is Pakistan was good and it must be good. Its vital for future of this country to see democracy take deep root. It may not be the most efficient form of govt but it is the only one that provides long-term stability and predictability for the Pakistani people and that is what above all we need so we back it very strongly, he added. Following are excerpts of the interview: Q: As you know that this is the worst national disaster in the history of Pakistan. British govt has announced humanitarian aid of more than Rs 4 billion. Do you think that this aid is enough? And are you going to send more recommendations in relations to the aid packages to your government? Adam: I am speaking in general terms not just about British aid. But there is never going to be enough aid to meet this challenge and we are still working through the amount we have already committed. We have committed 31.3 million pounds. I guess that is about Rs 4 billion. We have not spent all that yet but we will certainly have to look at whether more is called from specifically the UK when we hit our ceiling or generally as you probably know that Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Minister, is reviewing DFIDs bilateral programmes as a whole. And so what we will do and can do for Pakistan needs to be seen in that larger context of the wider review. Q: Are you planning to open any aid centres for the flood affectees and are you thinking to send some human resources in shape of aid workers, volunteers and doctors with medical and medicine supplies? Adam: The way that the Department for International Development works is usually to provide supply, money through international organisations or Pakistani NGOs and to provide specific supplies for distribution by others like the IOM for example or UNICEF, thats how we are doing it at the moment. We find that it gives us a much more efficient use of each pound that we are putting in, than if we are trying to deliver it on the micro scale ourselves... So we brought in the RAF (Royal Air Force), we brought in sanitation, hygiene kits, water purification, tents, etc. We then give it to organisations like the IOM to distribute rather than setting up our own centres. Q: Dont you think that Pakistan would be justified in rebuilding rather than fighting the war against terror because the damage caused by the devastating floods to the infrastructure and businesses could go into millions of pounds? Adam: It does not have much choice actually in addressing both and as you were arguing a moment to go there is certainly a linkage between the two. It is certainly going to be justified in turning a large amount of its resources to the flood relief recovery and reconstruction since that is the demand of the hour and its already doing it. It has frozen all other development programmes and the Army, for example, is doing flood relief but the so-called war on terror - as well recognised here in Pakistan - is not an option. This is a threat to Pakistans security, it wont go away if Pakistan stops contesting it and fighting it. Q: The British public is amongst the most charitable people in the world but during the present disaster in Pakistan, they have not been as forthcoming to help as before. Do you think that Camerons negative comment and his governments policies have influenced the British public? Adam: No, I dont think so. There is a distinction between day-to-day politics and a humanitarian disaster. I think actually the British public response has been pretty good so far. The DEC Appeal, the Disaster Emergency Committee Appeal is now up to 15 million pounds. If there is a hesitation in the UK, I would urge people to donate generously. Such hesitation may be to do with the questions around whether the money will be well spent in Pakistan, but we have just seen the two major political parties - Prime minister Gilani and Nawaz Sharif - come together to establish a so-called clean flood commission to provide confidence for both Pakistani and international donors. Q: The Cameron govt is being perceived by the Pakistani community and in the UK as well. People of Pakistan being insensitive towards them. Is this not a contradiction that the Liberal Democrats are friendlier towards the minorities? Do you see this as the development wrapped into the coalition partners in the UK? Adam: No, I dont see a difference on Pakistan. I think that both the parties that make up the coalition are completely committed to Pakistan. They understand how important this country is to the United Kingdom and to the UKs interest and whats more I just say, you know, both parties of the govt and specifically the Clegg - David Cameron absolutely recognised the sacrifices of Pakistan and Pakistani people in combating terrorism and violent extremism - sacrifices that far exceed those of any other country in the world I think in the last couple of years. Q: Now I will come to the general problems. The visa problem with the UK High Commission has been going on for the long time and many people in Pakistan still complain that their visas either being rejected or their passports lost. What is the latest situation on that? Adam: Well, you are right, we have been through a bad patch but we are getting progressively better and I hope we have an increasingly good story to tell. You may have noticed that we have just been through the summer surge in visa applications which lead to some real shortcomings in summer of last year which we have managed really quite well this year. We have absolutely kept to our global targets and our turn around time for applications for all categories of visa has not normally exceeded 20 working days and I believe that we are now managing to pull it back down to well within our global target which is 10 to 15 working days for turnaround. I am really pretty confident that we will not have the repeat of the problems of the student visas for example. We are managing to turn those around within our target time, normally of 8-10 working days. So we have still got some things to iron out. We want this not to be adequate but excellent - but we are getting there. Q: As you have seen that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon came here and showed his solidarity towards the people of Pakistan in this humanitarian disaster. Do you think that, I mean, do you have any information that the British Prime Minister or the Deputy Prime Minister or anybody from Britain is coming to show the solidarity because we are the key allies in the war in terror. So do you think that they are coming or they are planning to come here to show their solidarity with the people of Pakistan? Adam: Well, of course, I have already hosted three cabinet level ministerial visits since the new govt came into office. That shows a pretty strong level of solidarity. I confidently expect further ministerial visits and in deep sympathy with the floods to get an idea of the damage, to see where we can help further. I think thats quite likely to happen in the next few days. Beyond that you would have seen from the joint statement that was produced after the meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and Premier Cameron that the latter is committed to visiting Pakistan before the end of the year. So he will be here in not too distant future and I know that there will be other ministerial visits between now and then. So there is steady stream of high level engagement in both directions.