ISLAMABAD, 26 November 2004 — Emphasizing the need to root out terrorism, extremism and sectarianism, Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf pledged yesterday to continue anti-terror operations.

He also asked Congress President Sonia Gandhi to take a more “proactive role” in thrashing out a consensus in India on the Kashmir dispute.

Though his comments on the Indian leader was made to an India newspaper, Musharraf was categorical in his statement at the National Security Council saying, “The campaign to root out terrorism and extremism is very important to bring about a societal change.”

The NSC meeting was boycotted by Maulana Fazalur Rehman, the opposition leader in Pakistan’s National Assembly.

Musharraf made it clear that the ongoing anti-terror operation in tribal region of South Waziristan and elsewhere in the country was directed against foreign terrorists and their accomplices.

Recalling achievements of the security agencies in tracking down some most wanted terrorists, he said serious efforts had been made to eliminate terrorist threats.

Besides hunting down a number of terrorists with links to Al-Qaeda terror network in last one year, Pakistani security forces restricted terrorist movement in the tribal region of South Waziristan, where 246 people including 100 militants were killed in last eight months.

Taking note of opposition leader’s absence from the meeting, the president hoped that he would reconsider his decision and attend next meeting, scheduled for January, 2005.

Rehman, who is also secretary general of the six-party Islamic opposition alliance, Muttahida Majlis-e-Ammal (MMA) had Wednesday called for the postponement of the NSC and urged the government to first address the reservations of the alliance before asking him to attend the meeting.

Rehman’s boycott came as an apparent sign of a deepening rift over the highest decision-making body with the opposition.

The NSC reviewed misuse of religious seminaries and mosques, law and order in the country, the operation against foreign militants in the tribal areas, progress on major projects, Balochistan-related issues and the peace process with India, following a high-level visit by Premier Shaukat Aziz.

“The meeting discussed in detail important external and national security matters including ongoing Pakistan-India dialogue process,” the secretary-general of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Syed Mushahid Hussain told the media after the meeting.

Hussain, who attended the meeting on special invitation, did not attach any importance to Rehman’s boycott, when asked how opposition leader’s absence was viewed by the NSC.

“Everybody knew that the opposition leader will boycott the meeting,” Hussain remarked.

The NSC was created under the controversial 17th amendment bill which granted sweeping powers to the president.

Earlier, in an interview to an Indian newspaper, Musharraf said, “Sonia Gandhi has a unique position in India. She is highly respected and holds an important position. If she takes a lead, I am confident that there will be a breakthrough in Indo-Pak ties.”

“The good thing is that strictly speaking, she is not in the government. So she can work it out in a more informal way,” he added.

According to The Telegraph, Musharraf said, “She should try to involve every one, her allies, the Left and the Opposition BJP.” Every leader reaches a “peak” in his/her political career, he said, adding that Sonia was currently at her “peak”.

(Input from Deutsche Presse-Agentur)