KARACHI, 3 February 2005 — Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf made a call to foreign investors yesterday to help his country fight extremism and terrorism by investing and creating more jobs to alleviate poverty.

“I say to foreign investors ...contribute indirectly in fighting extremism and terrorism by creating more jobs and alleviating poverty,” Musharraf said at the opening of Expo Pakistan 2005 — at the Karachi Expo Center here. “You can help by investing in Pakistan and increasing imports from here,” he told delegates at the fair designed to attract foreign investors scared off by violence that has plagued the country since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its war against terrorism launched after the Sept. 11 attacks and has arrested more than 600 Al-Qaeda militants in a crackdown on extremist elements.

But its ally status has proved a double-edged sword: It has had billions of dollars in foreign debts wiped out as a reward but has also suffered from an increase in terror attacks by militants enraged at its stance alongside Washington. Musharraf said Pakistan had been striving to project itself as moderate and stable because there was a misperception abroad about the Muslim country.

“It is a new Pakistan, it is not floundering, drifting or sailing...it is a victim of wrong perceptions abroad,” he said.

“It is vastly a moderate country, however, it is a misfortune that a small minority of extremists has taken a vast majority of moderates hostage (but) we are in a process of getting this right.”

The five-day trade fair in Karachi, Pakistan’s most populous city and its commercial hub, is under tight security.

Sindh Home Minister Rauf Siddiqui said that tight security arrangements have been done to avoid any unpleasant incident.

Rauf said that besides deployment of police and Rangers personnel, a large number of security personnel have been deployed in plain clothes near the Expo Center to keep an eye on any suspicious activity near the venue.

Some 10,000 police and paramilitary troops have been deployed for the event, city police chief Tariq Jamil said.

“It is a high alert as it is an international event. Security has been tightened around hotels, where hundreds of foreign delegates are staying,” he said.

About 450 delegates from 77 countries will take part in the Expo 2005 event, including 13 commerce ministers, he said.

“It is the biggest commercial event here since 9 11 and is aimed at sharing our economic turnaround with the rest of the world,” said Tariq Ikram, chairman of Pakistan’s Export Promotion Bureau.

“Pakistan’s image has been tarnished since 9 11 as a country which promotes extremism and religious intolerance,” said Salahuddin Haider, spokesman for the government of Sindh province, where Karachi is located.

“But activities like this will promote industrial progress and Pakistan’s image as a progressive country.”