United Nations: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday said that apart from combating terrorism frontally, the international community must undertake resolute efforts to resolve the conflicts afflicting the Islamic world.

"Unless we end foreign occupation and suppression of Muslim peoples, terrorism and extremism will continue to find recruits among alienated Muslims in various parts of the world," Gen. Musharraf said. He impliedly criticised the U.S. policies in the Muslim world, which, he said, caused anger among the Muslim world and spawned terrorism.

Across the Muslim world, he said, old conflicts and new campaigns of military intervention spawned a deep sense of desperation and injustice.

"Each new battleground involving an Islamic state has served as a new breeding ground for extremists and terrorists. Indiscriminate bombings, civilian casualties, torture, human rights abuses, racial slurs and discrimination only add to the challenge of defeating terrorism."

Claiming that Pakistan was in the forefront of fighting terrorism, Gen. Musharraf said problems along the bordering regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan were compounded by the continuing presence of three million Afghan refugees, some of them sympathetic to the Taliban.

"The incentives offered to the refugees for their voluntary return by the international community are minimal," he said and called for a "serious international commitment" to facilitate their repatriation.

Peace and stability in Afghanistan, Gen. Musharraf said, was in Pakistan's vital interest, for, it would assure tranquillity on the western frontiers and enable the country to realise its ambition of linking Central Asia and South Asia through Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Nuclear power

Asserting that Pakistan could not accept discrimination in the nuclear field, he said Islamabad had a "legitimate requirement" for nuclear power to meet its expanding economy.

But "as a responsible nuclear state, we will continue to seek nuclear technology for power generation under IAEA safeguards," he said.

Stating that one of Pakistan's "strategic" aims was to utilise its "unique geo-strategic" position to build trade, energy and communication corridors linking South Asia, West Asia, Central Asia and China, he noted that regional integration would accelerate economic growth and prosperity.

Despite "daunting challenges" Pakistan was facing from within and without, he said it was "boldly" trying to build an environment of peace and stability in the region.

Gen. Musharraf, who returned to the theme of terrorism several times, said the greatest challenge to global security, campaign against terrorism and the credibility of the United Nations was the "cauldron" of conflict — Middle East.

"This was exemplified by the latest Israeli aggression against Lebanon. We hope that the resolution painstakingly brokered in the Security Council will lead to rapid and complete Israeli withdrawal and restoration of Lebanon's sovereignty over its entire territory." — PTI

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