ISLAMABAD, 13 March 2005 — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf yesterday vowed to ruthlessly fight terrorism, but called for more support, saying no country or individual could handle this problem alone.
“I vow to fight terrorism ruthlessly,” he said while addressing the convocation of the country’s International Islamic University in the capital, Islamabad.
However, Musharraf said he needed the support of other nations and people to combat terrorism, sectarianism and extremism.
“This task cannot be achieved by an individual or a government,” he said.
Musharraf, who is also chancellor of the university, later conferred an honorary doctorate of law to Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Jordan’s Prince Hassan bin Talal who were attending the ceremony.
Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its war on terror and the country’s security agencies have arrested more than 700 Al-Qaeda suspects since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in America.
Musharraf has made it his mission to defeat forces of religious extremism in the country and coined the term “enlightened moderation” as his philosophy for Pakistan. His efforts have won him plaudits from Washington.
In an interview with Reuters on Friday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised him for helping foster stability over the last few years in Pakistan, a nuclear-armed Islamic country with many Al-Qaeda supporters.
Rice is due in Islamabad next week on her first visit to the region since taking office in January. A US official said Rice would offer support to Musharraf for his anti-Al-Qaeda stance.
Musharraf said all Muslim countries should persistently pursue “enlightened moderation” and try to correct misperceptions about Islam in the rest of the world.
“We need to curb obscurantism and correct our direction — we should have enlightenment and moderation in accordance with Islamic teachings,” he said.
Mahathir, speaking at the ceremony in which he received an honorary doctorate from the International Islamic University Islamabad, said Muslims should interpret Islamic laws in harmony with the needs of the modern times. Mahathir cited the Islamic teaching that a woman rape victim can be punished if she cannot produce four male witnesses in her favor, adding: “Is it morally right that the victim should get punishment?”
He was commenting on an issue that is at the center of a debate raging between Pakistani human rights groups and Islamic parties, who want no change in the country’s Islamic laws.
