President Pervez Musharraf has directed law enforcement agencies to launch a nationwide campaign to stop banned militant outfits from holding gatherings, collecting donations and displaying arms. Addressing the nationâs top police officers in Rawalpindi, Musharraf said that the publishing, printing and distribution of hate material such as pamphlets, booklets and CDs should be stopped. âYou must ensure that such material is not available in markets by December this year.â He said that writers, publishers and distributors of such literature must be punished. The president made it clear that the government would not tolerate extremism and would continue to combat the âmenace of terrorism with unflinching determination and forceâ. He said this fight was in the interest of Pakistanâs continued socio-economic progress. The president reiterated the governmentâs resolve to prevent banned militant organisations from resurfacing under other names. He said that no government in the country could be anti-religion and Pakistan was âundoubtedly an ideological state and an Islamic Republicâ.
âWe have to take the country forward as a modern dynamic, progressive and forward-looking Islamic state,â he said. The president said that the country would continue its fight against terrorism. âPakistan stands at a crossroads. There is an urgent need to address the extremism. We have to transform society and bring about harmony for our long-term progress,â he said. The president referred to the countryâs success in capturing about 700 terrorists and said that the Pakistani police and its intelligence wings deserved praise.
Federal Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao said that about four hundred law enforcement personnel had laid down their lives in the anti-terror drive. In response to suggestions from senior police officers, the president ordered the formation of a committee of provincial inspector generals which would propose ways to improve police efficiency. Musharraf agreed on the need to provide better benefits to law-enforcement forces and said the government would provide the requisite financial resources to them. The president underscored the importance of merit-based inductions and said that police being the frontline enforcers of peace and security needed to be sincere in its efforts. The president urged the police not to concede to political pressures and to do away with the present âthana cultureâ.