"What's important is that we learn a lesson from what has happened and take action to ensure that there isn't such similar proliferation in future," Straw told a press conference after an hour-long meeting with President Pervez Musharraf.

"But I am satisfied about the progress which the Pakistani authorities are making and the co-operation which they are providing to the International Atomic Energy Agency," he said.

Straw discussed the proliferation scandal with Musharraf at the start of a three-day visit to the Pakistani capital, one month after the founder of its nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, publicly confessed to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

Musharraf's decision to pardon Khan instead of prosecuting him, and to forbid an inquiry by international experts, has drawn criticism, amid yet-to-be proven allegations that Pakistan's army had a role in the sale of nuclear technology.

Straw said the treatment of A.Q. Khan was Pakistan's business.

"What happens to those involved is a matter for the Pakistani authorities and not for us," he told reporters. He described his talks with Musharraf as thorough.

Straw, on his fifth visit to Pakistan in two-and-a-half years, also met Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali and held talks with his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri and Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat.

Kasuri said the two sides had discussed bilateral relations, war on terrorism, peace moves with India, Afghan reconstruction and Pakistan's bid to re-enter the Commonwealth after a suspension of more than four years.

Straw said Britain supported Pakistan's readmission to the Commonwealth as the country had met the criterion for this after settlement of the constitutional issues in parliament.

The British foreign secretary admired the January 6 agreement between Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to start a composite dialogue including discussions on the future of Kashmir, and said his country was willing to help if asked to do so.

He also expressed his condolences over Tuesday's killing of 47 people in southwest Pakistan in an attack by unidentified gunmen on a Shiite Muslim procession underscoring that the international community had to fight all kinds of terrorism collectively.

"We are all potential victims of extremist violence and we all have to unite in dealing with it," Straw said.

On Friday, Straw will visit Peshawar, the capital of Islamist-ruled North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, to deliver a lecture on "Engaging Islam" and visit an Islamic seminary.

Straw's visit is the first by a British leader since media reports last November that British spies bugged Pakistan's embassy in London prompted angry demands from Islamabad for an explanation by the British government.

Kasuri told the news conference that British Prime Minister Tony Blair's envoy had met him in Islamabad over the row and later he received a letter from the British government. "After that we have decided to put it behind us," he said.

WAR.WIRE