On the eve of countrywide strike called by the opposition parties, President Pervez Musharraf said that the government would continue its efforts to fight terrorism, extremism and sectarianism till it is completely eliminated from the country.
He stated this, while presiding over the National Security Council (NSC) meeting here on Thursday.
As expected, two members of the NSC belonging to the opposition, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani, did not attend the meeting. Those who were present included Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, chief ministers of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, services chiefs and NSC Secretary Tariq Aziz.
The long-worded official press release on the event conspicuously kept quiet about the opposition's wheel-jam strike unless the NSC treated the call for nation-wide strike an act of terrorism or religious extremism.
Another surprising amiss in the press release was total blackout of President Musharraf's impending visit to the US and his projected address to the World Jewish Congress.
The president argued that extremism formed the basis of terrorism, and spelt out various measures, both short-term and long-term, to curb extremist tendencies. In this he included ban on militant organisations and not to allow them to operate under new names, publication of hate material and ban on misuse of loudspeakers in mosques. The long-term measures included Madressah reforms, improvement of syllabi and the need for national and international discourse.
Being an Islamic ideological state Pakistan is eminently qualified to lead the way in projecting the true spirit of Islam, internally as well as in the Ummah and international community, the president said.
He also stressed that without resolving the Palestine and Kashmir disputes in a just manner war against terrorism cannot be won. Jointly, the president and the Prime Minister stressed upon the need to implement wide-ranging reforms to "meet the challenges of modern times".
They highlighted the importance of mutual tolerance and respect for diverse points of view "so that the vast majority of moderates could be strengthened", the release added.
Shaukat said all necessary funds and assistance would be made available to the law-enforcement agencies for capacity building.
Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao briefed the participants on internal security imperatives with focus on eliminating terrorism, extremism and sectarianism from the country "with force" with the objective to usher in, what he called, societal change with a view to deny extremists a place in the society.
Sherpao said standard operating procedures on monitoring banned organisations, protection of foreigners, dealing with suicide attacks, strengthening criminal investigation and regulation of religious seminaries are in place and are being implemented.
He also briefed the participants on the steps taken against banned organisations, hate material publications, collection of funds and misuse of loudspeakers in mosques.
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