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PRESIDENT PERVEZ MUSHARRAF OF PAKISTAN ’S

ADDRESS TO THE COALITION HEADQUARTERS

US CENTRAL COMMAND

19 SEPTEMBER 2005

“Cooperation between Pakistan and USA (CENTCOM) has always been excellent and has matured into an intimate relationship at strategic, operational and tactical level to include sharing of intelligence and efforts in the anti-terrorism drive. We are fully satisfied with the cooperation and have no problem whatsoever with our friends and allies at CENTCOM.

“Pakistan is directly or indirectly involved in everything of concern to the international community whether it is terrorism, extremism, democracy issue, women rights or nuclear proliferation. There are certain perceptions about Pakistan which unfortunately are far from reality and I would like to address some of these.

“The first of these which is commonly found in the media: Is Pakistan a reluctant or a willing partner in the Global War on Terror? Pakistan is a member of the Coalition of its own choice, for its own interests and not because of any other reason. Therefore, there is no question of reluctance. I had imposed a ban on the extremist parties in April 2001; much before the international community had the problem of terrorism. Later after 9/11, we moved against terrorism even more strongly and independently everywhere in Pakistan .

“To prove my point I would like to discuss the strategy that I have formulated to deal with terrorism. Terrorism and extremism are two separate issues. While terrorism can be dealt with military force, extremism has to be confronted with a strategy to change the hearts and the minds of the people. So there is the requirement to evolve a strategy suitable to the environment in which we are operating.

“We have proposed to address the problem in the short and long term perspective at global as well as the individual country level in the Muslim world. We have already proposed at the international level an Enlightened Moderation and a long term two pronged strategy ie rejection of extremism and socio-economic emancipation. Extremism breeds terrorism. Applying force is only aimed at buying time for other measures to address extremism. We have to carefully see the prevalent environment and then formulate the strategy. I would like to inform you of the measures that Pakistan has taken in its anti terrorism drive. There are three elements in our short term strategy.

“Banning extremist organizations, squeezing their funding and arresting such individuals who are involved in such activities. We identified a total of 389 individuals out of which 200 have been arrested and efforts are in hand to arrest the remaining individuals. In the past such elements were arrested under the Pakistan Criminal Ordinance which allowed their release after 10-15 days. Now they are arrested under the anti terrorism law and tried in the anti terrorist courts.

“Banning the publishing, distribution and possession of hate literature. We have identified those elements involved in such activities and have put almost 50% of them behind the bars. Hate literature is not being allowed to be sold in Pakistan .

“Move against those using the mosques to spread hatred. There are hundreds of thousands of mosques in Pakistan and it is very difficult to check all of them. Yet we are using every possible means including law enforcement agencies, intelligence agencies and locals to monitor the activities of mosque preachers. Friday sermons are being observed and those found guilty of spreading hatred are being arrested and charged in the anti terrorist courts.

“Under the long term measures, the first step is review of the syllabi of educational institutions. We had left our religion to semi literate obscurants who produced unenlightened literature. In order to put the things right we have asked our scholars to introduce real values of Islam into our school syllabi.

“The role of Madrassah has to be understood as it is not all bad. It came about because of shortage of schools in the rural areas. Due to a high birth rate resulting in a population explosion, the government was faced with an acute shortage of resources. It could not provide schools to the public in the remote areas. Madrassahs stepped in to fill this vacuum and did a great service by providing free boarding, lodging and education to the children of poor people who could not afford private schools. On the eve of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan , with the help of USA , we brought these Madrassahs into the fight by using them as recruiting and indoctrination bases for the Mujahideen. However, some of these continued to run on the same lines even after the eviction of the Soviets from Afghanistan . There are certain Madrassahs which are only teaching religion to the students. We are in the process of getting their curriculum changed to include other subjects also so that a student graduating from a Madrassah is equipped to join any profession. We have also asked all foreign students studying at these Madrassahs to leave the country.

“We have arranged in-depth discourses at national and international level on Islam with a view to taking it to enlightened people. We are also making an effort to show other Muslim countries and the world the true meaning of Islam which is religion of peace, tolerance and compassion. We have initiated an Islamic renaissance in Pakistan and want the entire world to benefit from it. Forty Islamic scholars from the world have been invited to Pakistan who are working to establish linkages between the philosophies of our great poet Iqbal and our founder Jinnah so as to convey the true message of Islam and the meaning of Pakistan . They are creating an intellectual route using Islamic teachings for countering terrorism and sending the message of enlightened moderation to all Muslim countries. Through the Organization of Islamic Countries we are requesting all Muslim countries to do the same and apply all available instruments to bring about a change while the military is buying time.

“Another common accusation against Pakistan is that it is a safe haven for terrorists. After1979 Pakistan was in the lead role of fighting the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan . Muhajideen and Taliban from Madrassahs were recruited in great numbers by Pakistan and CIA to fight the war of resistance. Pakistan also proudly takes the credit for winning the cold war and the eviction of the Soviets from Afghanistan . However, we alone had to face the fallout of this war as we were left high and dry immediately after the expulsion of the Soviets. We were faced with the world’s largest refugee population, warlordism and drug trafficking. About 20,000 Mujahideen were left in Pakistan who later joined Al Qaeda and shifted the focus of their activities to Pakistan . Afghanistan witnessed over two decades of warfare and those involved there started using Pakistan as a transit and a safe haven.

“We have arrested over six hundred wanted terrorists from different towns and cities of Pakistan . The backbone of Al Qaeda has been broken very effectively. Through close coordination and in cooperation with the locals, we entered areas where for centuries the government security forces including the British could not go. We killed and wounded over six hundered terrorists in South and North Waziristan Areas. In this fight to evict the terrorists from our areas we lost over two hundred and seventy of our own people while over four hundred were wounded. As a result, Al Qaeda is no longer effective as an organization. It is on the run and its strength has reduced to small insignificant penny pockets. We have achieved a lot but we also know that there is still more to be done. My recommendation to the media is let’s help and encourage each other rather than blaming.

“We are looking at fencing the Pak –Afghan Border at selective places so as to minimize the illegal move on either side. We have also undertaken shifting of the refugee camps as these are normally considered good hiding places for the terrorists. We have asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to shift refugee camps from Pakistan to Afghanistan .

“There are allegations that Pakistan is operating against Al Qaeda but sympathizes with the Taliban. Al Qaeda comprises of Arabs, Uzbeks and Chechens where as the Talibans are basically Pushtoons who live on both sides of Pak-Afghan Border and are, therefore, difficult to identify. We have managed to identify a large number of these elements and are operating against them. We did have contacts with the Taliban before 9/11 because of our political compulsions. Northern Alliance was being supported by India , Iran and Russia against our interests so we had to support the Taliban as they at that time being the biggest and strongest group controlled 90% of Afghanistan . It was the right decision in keeping with our national interests. After 9/11 we took the decision in the light of the changing global environment, in the interest of Pakistan and international peace and harmony.

“Another common allegation against Pakistan is that it is not doing enough to capture Osama bin Laden. We did get close to him about a year ago but ultimately lost track of him. Acquiring timely and accurate intelligence about his whereabouts is the most difficult part. We are doing our best in improving the intelligence network, have extended our reach and hope to achieve success which can come any day any time or elude us for quite sometime.

“Next allegation against Pakistan is that it is insecure on account of nuclear proliferation. My response to this is that only one individual was involved and Pakistan as a country has never been involved in any proliferation. We have put in place a very elaborate system in order to prevent any such incident in the future. A body headed by the president has been formed which consists of military as well as the civilians. This body is responsible for all aspects relating to the nuclear assets. Under this body is the Strategic Plans Division which is responsible for developmental control, financial management and security of nuclear assets. Strategic Plans Division has under it strategic forces of the three services which actually hold all the nuclear weapons. In our armed forces we have an extremely strict accounting procedure under which loss of any government item, no matter how small, results in a court martial. Loss of any nuclear asset under such a strict system is unimaginable. Any weaknesses in the control of nuclear technology which may have been under the civilian scientists have also been eliminated. Therefore, now the possibility of our nuclear assets falling in the hands of unauthorized personnel is out of question.

“Pakistan has traveled a long way. Our economy which was in a poor state has been stabilized and the system of governance improved. The effects of these steps have now started to reach the people whereby their quality of life is improving. Development and improvement in social sector, education and health has received major attention and is resulting in stability in the country.

“As far as our relations with India are concerned we are doing our best in improving these. We are also doing our best in helping Afghanistan gain stability.”

To a question about the future of SCO and Pakistan ’s position on it, the President replied, “We are located at important cross roads of the Gulf, Central Asian Republics , West China and South Asia . While serving as a hub, Pakistan can play a major role in the economic development, energy distribution, commerce and trade activities and communication infrastructure development in the area.”

Click here to read about CENTCOM's posture on Pakistan.