BRITISH Prime Minister Gordon Brown's short visit to Islamabad on Sunday had as much to do with easing the tension that had built up between India and Pakistan following the Mumbai terrorist attacks on November 26 as with his concern to break, what he believes, the chain of terror rooted in the Pakistani soil. Mr Brown has, of late, been talking of a "chain of terror" linking British radical elements to 'mosques, madrasahs and jihadi camps' located here, maintaining that three-fourths of the serious plots in Britain investigated by the police have found their echo in Pakistan. His offer of six million pounds worth of aid, training in bomb disposal capability, firming up security of airports and making available to Islamabad scanning equipment has to be seen in that context. One would expect that the Pakistan government would make the best possible use of this offer to be better able to forestall terrorist attacks in the future. British media has reported that Mr Brown was keen for the British police to interview the surviving suspect in the Mumbai attacks to order to get a peep into the terrorist groups' planning and operation and their possible links with the plots unearthed in the UK. He is also stated to have offered a new pact to tackle terrorism, "to make sure terrorists are denied any safe haven in Pakistan". Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, whom Mr Brown met after he had called on President Asif Ali Zardari, denied media's reporting of the offer of a new pact, though he revealed that the British Prime Minister's request for access to suspect terrorists was not accepted unless evidence about their involvement was provided to Islamabad. That access probably lay at the bottom of the reported offer of a new pact. The mounting international pressure on Pakistan to cooperate with India in the wake of the Mumbai attacks has rendered Britain an opportunity to ask for direct access to those suspects whose role in any terrorist activity has not been established. Mr Brown's exchange of views with Mr Zardari should have convinced him that Islamabad was genuinely anxious to get at the root of the Mumbai killings but New Delhi had to provide concrete evidence. The world should impress upon India to cooperate likewise rather than mounting a propaganda campaign. Endorsing India's stand while Pakistan has not enough material to proceed would only expose Britain's tilt. It is only logical to assume that a victim of terrorism that Pakistan is, as President Zardari has repeatedly maintained, would need no persuasion to take steps to get rid of it.