“He stands by his remarks,” said the spokeswoman, while stressing that the British premier had not been referring to the Pakistani government itself supporting terrorism.

“He was referring to elements within Pakistan supporting terrorism, not the Pakistani government,” she said, after Britain’s high commissioner to Islamabad was summoned to the Pakistan foreign ministry. Adam Thomson, the British High Commissioner to Pakistan, was summoned to a meeting with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to clarify the remarks, a Pakistani official said.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office said Qureshi told Thomson that terrorism was a global issue and had to be dealt with by all countries in a spirit of cooperation, rather than putting the entire onus on any one country.

Qureshi said Pakistan was itself a victim of terrorism and its efforts against violent extremism could not be negated. According to the Pakistani statement, Thomson explained the context in which Cameron made his remarks and added that Britain looked forward to further strengthening its strategic relations with Pakistan.

A British Foreign Office spokesman said Thomson and Qureshi had discussed “a broad range of bilateral issues.” Zardari is expected to arrive in Britain on Tuesday after a visit to France where he was set to hold talks on Monday with President Nicolas Sarkozy. The Pakistani leader is scheduled to meet Cameron on Friday at the British prime minister’s official country residence, Chequers, before addressing a rally of political supporters among Britain’s million-strong Pakistani community on Saturday.

Pakistan’s information minister said after the latest comments that the response was “very unfortunate” but that Zardari would not postpone his visit to Britain in protest. Relations between London and Islamabad soured last week when Cameron said Pakistan could not be permitted to “look both ways” in promoting the export of terror while publicly working for stability in the region.

Asked about Cameron’s standing by his comments, Pakistani Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told BBC television: “I think this is very unfortunate” but insisted it would not threaten the visit.

“No, (the) president is not following this policy, he has a policy of interaction with the world,” he said.

“We want to expand our relationship... but such remarks (are) a real problem for the government of Pakistan and the society of Pakistan.” He added that he hoped the British government would “change their perspective” after Zardari’s meeting with Cameron “because we will give them the real facts.”

The British spokeswoman had earlier insisted that there were “very good, strong” links between Britain and Pakistan on many levels, adding: “We want to continue to work very closely with Pakistan in the future.”

—  With input from agencies