Pakistan is facing a "mortal threat" from its internal enemies amid worsening security in the country, Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Friday.It is now vital that rival democratic forces unite to combat the "very grave" security situation, he told BBC radio in the wake of the attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team in Lahore.
"It's now vital that whatever the political differences between President (Asif Ali) Zardari, Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the opposition ... [they should] come together to unite against the mortal threat Pakistan faces, which is a threat from its internal enemies, not its traditional external enemies," Miliband said.
"This is a very grave situation and it's intimately linked to the situation in Afghanistan. It's getting worse in a number of respects."
He added, "The tempo of terrorist attacks has risen and the combination of political uncertainty, economic decline... and then the security side mean that this is a particularly challenging time for any government."
"The degree of political disunity that exists at the moment is only contributing to the problem."
Miliband said the safety of British citizens was at risk. "The majority of terrorist attacks in Britain have links back into Pakistan," he said.
"There's obviously a large number of British troops and troops from a number of other countries at direct risk in Afghanistan and I think that is a potent brew."
He was quoted by BBC News as saying that it was not known who carried out the Lahore attack but added that the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LT) had "deep roots in the Punjab".
He urged the central and local governments to take action against groups he described as "front organisations" for the LT.
Pakistan faced criticism this week over security arrangements for the visiting Sri Lanka cricket team.