Musharraf has promised to rid Pakistan of “extremists” many, many times. But his statements are beginning to sound like the late Arafat’s denunciations of terrorism. What is he really doing in Pakistan to fight the jihad ideology? Nothing. He doesn’t dare, because he knows how firmly it is entrenched in the mosques and madrassas. “We should ‘fight this menace jointly,'” from GulfNews, with thanks to Skeetstreet:
Islamabad : President Pervez Musharraf said yesterday that Pakistan and Britain should stand together to defeat terrorism and abstain from talking against each other as that would weaken the overall cause.
Musharraf, who focused on the ongoing campaign in Pakistan against extremists in the backdrop of recent London bombings, said he would like to send a message to the British leader.
He said Pakistan strongly condemns the recent London bombings and “I don’t think that the perpetrators of this act can be called human beings.”
He told Blair: “We should stand together in this struggle and fight against terrorism right to the end until we emerge victorious against them and we eliminate them.”
The president also conveyed to the British leader his concerns over aspersions in the media being cast on Pakistan.
He said Pakistan certainly had a problem which “we are trying to address very strongly.” But he pointed that England too had a problem which needs to be addressed.
He said three of the four suspects in the London bombings were accused to be Pakistanis and the fourth was a Jamaican.
“I really don’t know if the aspersion on the three Pakistanis is that they got indoctrinated when they came to Pakistan,” Musharraf said, and asked: “Where did the Jamaican get his indoctrination from?”
From the same place the Pakistanis did, of course.
“The other issue I would like to raise is that these three, if they are Pakistanis, they are from Pakistani parentage. They happen to be British nationals; they had been born, bred and educated in Britain.”
Musharraf said there were extremist organisations in the UK and mentioned Hizbul Tahreer and Al-Mahajroon. He said these organisation operate with impunity in the UK. “They had the audacity of passing an edict against my life and yet they operate with impunity,” Musharraf said, adding that they also gave sermons of hate, anger and violence.
“Therefore I would like to say that there is a lot to be done by Pakistan internally and there is a lot to be done in England also.”
Indubitably.