ISLAMABAD, 2 March 2007 — President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said yesterday that his government was determined to flush out terrorists from the tribal region.
Speaking at the annual Sibbi festival in Balochistan, Musharraf said the government had taken steps to destroy terror networks and militants were being hit hard.
“We have to establish a civilized, progressive, liberal and enlightened society where benefits of the economic prosperity trickle down to the people,” Musharraf said.
He said unfortunately some people misinterpret Islam and resort to violence. Musharraf said a woman minister was assassinated by a person who later boasted of having done an Islamic act. The president was referring to the cold-blooded murder of Punjab provincial minister Zille Huma who was shot dead by a fanatic on Feb. 20 while she was about to address a meeting in Gujranwala.
“Islam does not sanction violence and murder of innocent people,” he said.
Musharraf said that despite having destroyed a number of training camps of Al-Qaeda and Taleban, Pakistan is still being criticized by the Western media.
Gen. Musharraf said we are determined to flush foreigners out of our tribal region. “I do not know how terrorists from Yemen, Lebanon, Sudan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Chechnya and other Central Asian countries sneaked into Pakistan’s tribal region. We have destroyed their networks and we will continue to hit them.”
Musharraf, campaigning for the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) and also to get himself re-elected this year, has said he wants the extremists defeated and the moderates gain the upper hand.
Musharraf addressing another public meeting in Sindh late on Wednesday said Pakistan will force foreign Al-Qaeda and Taleban militants to leave the troubled tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.
Musharraf — told by US Vice President Dick Cheney on a surprise visit earlier this week to crack down on insurgents — also urged Pakistanis to help by informing the authorities about extremist suspects.
“People have come there from outside. They are living in our mountains and spreading terrorism not just in Pakistan but in the entire world,” the official Associated Press of Pakistan quoted Musharraf as saying.
“These people are putting Pakistan in danger. These people should leave and go, otherwise we will have to deal with them and we are dealing with them,” he told the large public meeting on Wednesday night.
The impact of terrorism was being felt throughout Pakistan and it was the people’s duty to help, Musharraf said. “Identify and point out those who have such tendencies and inform the law enforcement agencies,” he said.
Musharraf, who has escaped three assassination attempts blamed on militants opposed to his fight against extremism, also said that the country’s development was being harmed by fundamentalism.
“We have to check such tendencies, otherwise the country will not be able to move on to the path of progress and development,” he added.
Cheney on Monday said Washington was concerned that Al-Qaeda was regrouping in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal zone and that Taleban rebels based there were preparing for a spring offensive against foreign troops in Afghanistan.
The US vice president’s brief trip to Islamabad came amid reports that US aid could be cut if Pakistan did not take more action to hunt down militants.
The next day Cheney was forced to take shelter when a Taleban suicide bomber blew himself up at the gate of the main US base in Afghanistan. Cheney was unhurt but Afghan officials said 20 people were killed.
Pakistan says it has killed up to 1,000 militants and lost 700 soldiers in military action in the tribal areas since 2003, but it has since signed peace deals with militants in North and South Waziristan districts.
US and Afghan officials say attacks across the border have soared as a result of the pact.
Meanwhile, a tragedy was averted yesterday when a bomb weighing some 25 kilograms and fitted with a timer was defused in Karachi. The device was kept inside a car that was parked outside a police station. The car was stolen in August last year.
