New Delhi: Asserting that terrorists being labelled "freedom fighters" cannot be accepted by the international community, British Foreign Minister Jack Straw today (Feb 6, 2004) advocated a common definition for terrorism and said no cause can justify this scourge.

"We cannot allow terrorists who are labelled freedom fighters," Straw said while responding to questions after delivering the Madhavrao Scindia Memorial Lecture on "Defeating Terrorism for Global Order".

"No cause can justify terrorism," Straw, who is on his fourth visit to India as Foreign Minister in two years, told a gathering that included Congress president Sonia Gandhi and senior party leaders Arjun Singh, Shivraj Patil besides S Jaipal Reddy, K Natwar Singh, Romesh Bhandari and Mani Shanker Aiyar.

His comments came a day after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf addressing the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir Assembly, asserted that freedom struggle could not be termed as terrorism.

Commerce and Industry Minister Arun Jaitley, Pakistan High Commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan and former foreign secretaries Kanwal Sibal and J N Dixit were also present.

He said India and Britain have suffered the tragedy of terrorist attacks and "we are both deeply committed to working together to defeat terrorism. We have to have a commitment to a strong and just global order, which can help us achieve that goal".