 ...The president, who has outlawed 10 extremist groups, said the police had been ordered to catch the leaders of these organisations.
| We'll be waiting to see Masood Azhar arrested. And Hafiz Saeed. And Fazlur Rehman Khalil... |
âThe raids are not aimed at rounding up large numbers of people, but to catch the leaders of the Islamic radical underground,â he said. âI donât want to arrest the workers,â he told a group of foreign correspondents. âI want the leaders of the banned groups. Iâm not impressed by figures. We want to get all of the bigwigs. We are not going as fast as I would like to go.â
| From where we sit, it looks like you've been going two steps forward and two steps back... |
President Musharraf said that he believed Pakistan would be never be governed by extremists. âPakistan will never be governed or ruled by extremists,â he added.
| Maybe we've got the wrong impression over here, but it seems like you can't throw a rock in Pakland without hitting an extremist. Or maybe our definition of "extremist" is different? |
President Musharraf also pledged to enforce a ban on anti-Western hate speeches being spread from mosqueâs loudspeakers or through audio recordings. Asked about the seriousness of the arrest campaign, President Musharraf said, âI have never done anything without being serious. I donât bluff. I do act with realism. I am realistic, not idealistic. I am extremely serious.â
âI am in a much stronger position now to campaign against religious extremists in this Muslim nation than during a limited crackdown in 2002,â said the president. âI am in a totally different environment.â President Musharraf said he did not have âa free handâ in 2002 because of an unstable economy, a confrontation with India over Kashmir and insufficient international support for his presidency. âMaybe the boat would have capsizedâ if the government had pursued the campaign against domestic militants more aggressively in 2002, he said. âWe took action, but there were restraining factors.â Talking about Islamabadâs successes in the war on terror, President Musharraf said Pakistan had âbroken the vertical and horizontal command and communication links of Al Qaeda, which means that they have ceased to exist as a homogenous, well-controlled, centralised force.â The president said that Pakistanâs strategic assets were secure and in safe hands and there was no possibility that they would fall into the wrong hands. |