ISLAMABAD, 27 February 2005 — Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led war on terrorism, urged his nation yesterday to combat extremists and stop them from misusing mosques and religious schools.

Speaking to thousands of people at a rally in the central city of Multan, Musharraf said eliminating extremism was vital to turn Pakistan into a prosperous and progressive country. 

“Those who are using our sacred places like mosques and madrasas (religious schools) to spread extremism and hatred should be stopped,” he said.

“Don’t support them. Stand against them and speak against them.” 

Musharraf has made it his mission to fight religious extremism in the country after he sided with the United States in the global war on terrorism following the Sept. 11 attacks on US cities in 2001.

He coined the term of “enlightened moderation” as his philosophy to project Pakistan as a moderate Muslim nation. “Pakistan needs enlightened moderation to be spread among the people at this time. Whoever is trying to take us to extremism, is in fact leading us to disaster,” he said. 

On Thursday, he said Pakistan has broken the back of terrorism, killing and arresting hundreds of militants and destroying the structure of their organizations. 

Pakistani security forces have arrested hundreds of members of Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda group and handed many of them to the United States over the past three years. 

The government has also banned several militants groups and Musharraf has lately been more forceful in condemning religious extremism.

Musharraf is a target of militants infuriated by his support for the war on terrorism and survived two assassination attempts by militants linked to Al-Qaeda in December 2003. 

He curtailed his public appearances after those attempts but has addressed a handful of rallies in recent months in a sign of growing confidence that the militant network has been considerably weakened.

The Multan rally was held amid tight security with thousands of troops and police deployed across the city. Military vehicles patrolled the main roads.

Cellular phones were not allowed inside and participants were thoroughly checked by electronic detectors before entering the venue.

Pakistan’s Defense Secretary Warns ‘Al-Qaeda Reorganizing’

Defense Secretary Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Hamid Nawaz said yesterday different reports have confirmed Al-Qaeda getting organized again and the issue is aggravating in lieu of cooling down.

While talking to reports on the eve of the passing-out parade of the airport security forces here, he said that Pak-US cooperation for elimination of Al-Qaeda forces was going on. However, Osama Bin Laden’s whereabouts was yet unknown, he added.

When asked if Al-Qaeda could manage to possibly get nuclear weapons, he said: “To stop Al-Qaeda from getting nuclear weapons it is inevitable to keep Al-Qaeda under tight control.”

The terrible situation in Iraq and Afghanistan after US carried out colossal assaults on them has set people’s feelings ablaze to a great extent, he added.