The British government should stop "passing the buck" by repeatedly blaming Pakistan for home-grown terrorist plots, the country's foreign minister has warned.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Pakistan could offer the West crucial help in ending the war in Afghanistan but stressed that Britain especially had to demonstrate "more sensitivity" to Pakistan's struggle to maintain domestic support for its fight against Islamist extremism.

In an interview in the London Independent, Qureshi claimed recent military victories against the Taliban in the Swat Valley were a sign Pakistan was managing to "turn the tide" against the insurgency. But in a sign of the frustration felt in Islamabad at being lectured to by Britain, he said: "We need to change the language."

The return of civilian government after years of military rule, and the commitment of President Asif Ali Zardari to ending militancy, had brought strong gains in the struggle to defeat jihadist groups, he said.

"We need to recognise the change that has come about in Pakistan. The problems we have are not solely of our creation. The rest of the world helped to create this menace; now we are saying, 'Help us to eradicate this menace, this evil'. If we are allies and friends we have got to work together. We need each other's co-operation but I do think we have to be more sensitive."

Such sentiments have emerged in briefings by unnamed officials before, but it is unusual for a high-ranking member of government to voice them so directly.

British prime minister Gordon Brown has claimed three-quarters of terror plots investigated by British intelligence originate in Pakistan. While foreign secretary David Miliband recently softened the tone, there is still concern about "safe havens" in Pakistan's tribal belt. The Afghan Taliban relies on such sanctuaries to regroup in its war against Nato, while al-Qaeda uses them as training camps.

The conviction in London this month of three al-Qaeda "liquid bomb plotters" has revived alarm about the role of Pakistani training camps in grooming jihadists. But officials in Islamabad believe the criticism deflects attention from Britain's failure to shoulder its share of responsibility.

"It is easy to pass the buck", Qureshi said, "but [the liquid bomb plotters] were British citizens. They went to school here, they are part of the British system, they live here. If they do something extraordinary, is it fair that Pakistan should be blamed?"

He acknowledged that Pakistan's military was not yet ready to deliver on US demands for a massive ground assault on South Waziristan, home to several pro-Taliban tribes and jihadist groups. But such an operation was "in the pipeline", he said.

Fears for nuclear-armed Pakistan's internal stability have been intense following a recent spate of suicide bombings, a push by militants into areas less than 100 miles from the capital, and an economic crisis in which 20 people died last week in stampedes for food. But Qureshi insisted the government had built a new political consensus around tackling extremism.

His words amplified the message in a speech by President Zardari on Friday. Addressing the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, he reaffirmed his determination not to allow Pakistan to be used as a launch pad for attacks by Islamist terrorists, and called for more counter-terrorism aid from the West. "Let me assure you we have not come this far, at this price, to fail," he said.