Rescue workers evacuate a family from a flood-hit area in Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan, on Saturday. The death toll from the flooding surged past 800 in the northwest. (AP)

Islamabad, July 31 (Reuters): Pakistan’s ISI chief has called off a trip to Britain in protest at Prime Minister David Cameron’s remarks on its militant ties, as Islamabad is hit by a barrage of criticism of its alleged links to terror groups.

An ISI spokesman said today that senior intelligence officials, including ISI head Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, would not go to London on Monday as planned for counter-terrorism talks.

But President Asif Ali Zardari will still visit Britain next week, a government spokesman said.

Cameron, speaking in India on Wednesday, told Islamabad that it must not become a base for militants and “promote the export of terror” across the globe.

A Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman said this week his country had been “saddened” by Cameron’s remarks. Pakistan is a key ally of the US whose help is crucial for western efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.

Cameron’s remarks came days after classified US military reports published on the whistleblower WikiLeaks website detailed US concern that the ISI had aided Taliban militants while the Pakistani government was taking billions of dollars in US aid.

This is not the first time Pakistan’s alleged ties to al Qaida and Taliban militants, waging a nine-year war in Afghanistan, have been put in the spotlight in the past two weeks.

Secretary of state Hillary Clinton, on a recent visit to Pakistan, said she believed al Qaida leaders were still hiding in Pakistan and that some elements in the Pakistani government knew where they were.

Cameron’s remarks appear to have further annoyed Pakistan, which has launched a largescale military offensive in its provinces bordering Afghanistan. The ISI spokesman said more than 2,500 Pakistani soldiers had been killed and more than 4,000 wounded in battles against militants since the US-led war on Afghanistan in 2001.