PAKISTAN: President Musharraf stiffens resolve to eliminate terrorism as Pakistan mourns dead

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf addressed the nation following an assault to crush Islamist militants in the capital's Red Mosque. Musharraf spoke of remorse, but also of his resolve to "eliminate terrorism and extremism from every nook and corner". President Pervez Musharraf explained to Pakistan on Thursday (July 12) why he ordered troops to crush Islamist militants at a mosque in the capital, while grieving relatives buried a rebel cleric. At least 75 followers of cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi were killed in Tuesday's (July 10) commando assault on Islamabad's Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque. Most of them were interred without ceremony in unmarked graves in a city cemetery before daybreak. A series of suicide attacks on security forces reflect anger at the government's action in tribal parts of northwest Pakistan, although sentiment in most of the country sided with Musharraf's decision to send in the army. "Despite the success of the operation, brothers and sisters, today is not a day for celebration. It is a sad day, a day to mourn, it is a day for introspection. It is a day to ponder, because we did not overcome any enemy, we did not occupy any enemy land. Our own people were killed. We acted against our own people who had unfortunately deviated from the right path of religion and became victims of terrorism and extremism," Musharraf said in an address to the nation. Going through possibly the lowest period of his eight years in power, Musharraf spoke of remorse, but also of his resolve to "eliminate terrorism and extremism from every nook and corner". "I want to say it clearly that extremism and terrorism have not been eradicated from Pakistan with this action. We should be clear about that. But our resolve is to eliminate terrorism and extremism from every province of Pakistan. We have to resolve that we will purge every nook and corner of the country from this curse, and we will do it, God-willing," he said. He also vowed not to allow madrasas like Lal Masjid's Jamia Hafsa to be used to spread militancy, though it is a vow he has made in the past. "The madrasa had been turned into a fort for the preparation of war. So much so that terrorist elements had been given sanctuary here. Our resolve is that in the future, we will not allow any mosque or madrasa to be misused like Lal Masjid or Jamia Hafsa," he said. A total of at least 105 people, including 11 soldiers, were killed since clashes first broke out outside the mosque on July 3, resulting in a week-long siege, before the final assault. Journalists were shown a blackened room in the mosque's religious school where an army spokesman said a suicide bomber died along with a half-dozen victims whose bodies were so badly burned it was impossible to tell their age or gender. Cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi was killed on Tuesday along with a handful of hardcore militants he had gathered around him in his drive to impose strict Islamic rule on the capital. Al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri, in an Internet video, called for revenge, stoking fears of a backlash from militants exporting the Taliban's hardline version of Islam from the tribal badlands to Pakistani cities. "If you do not retaliate ... Musharraf will not spare you," said Zawahri, believed to be hiding on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, where U.S. intelligence officials warned lawmakers in Washington overnight that al-Qaeda had regrouped.

ITN Source | July 13, 2007

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