Terror 'should be a focus' of new Pakistani govt

Ati Nurbaiti , The Jakarta Post , Islamabad | Wed, 02/20/2008 1:18 PM | Headlines

The new government must continue to prioritize the war on terror in order to enable the handling of other issues such as foreign investment, the interior minister said here a day after Pakistan's elections.

Each party involved in forming the new government, Hamid Nawaz Khan said Tuesday, "must make its stance clear" on terrorism. Speaking to visiting Indonesian journalists, he said the government's approach to terrorism, "an immediate menace", should be continued.

At 11:30 p.m. on Monday the Central Election Commission announced final results in three constituencies. Final total counts may be released Wednesday or Thursday.

As of 5 p.m. (1200 GMT), unofficial results for 252 seats showed Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) had won 86 and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) had 65.

The pro-Musharraf PML trailed with 37. Smaller parties and independents shared the others.

The results have showed a lead for the major opposition parties, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistan People's Party, and in a number of areas their supporters were seen dancing all night in the streets.

Meanwhile, popular former cricket star and the leader of Tharak-e-Insaf party Imran Khan said he was jubilant over the outcome of the result.

"I am very happy as people have wiped out Musharraf," Khan said on Tuesday.

Khan's party boycotted the elections.

Voters, one headline read, had set their "wrath" on President Pervez Musharraf. Minister Khan took credit for the government being able to conduct largely "free, fair and transparent elections" despite a number of violent incidents killing several people, including a legislative candidate.

With security beefed up by 80,000 security forces personnel, Khan said, "such a degree of alertness cannot go on for days."

Therefore he said only through continuing to prioritize fighting terrorism could the new government deal with other urgent issues.

Apart from "hitting their base" through force, the former defense secretary said, the other approaches were on the diplomatic front in engaging countries where there were suspected sponsors of terrorism, involving religious leaders, the media and the political parties.

Based on his experience, he said, a clear stance against terrorism should be followed by "no appeasement", for negotiations would only lead terrorists to be more organized.

Khan expressed optimism that the major parties would similarly fight terror, more so because the PPP leaders have constantly said they would be "more vigorous" against terrorism if they were in power.

In response to whether a related solution to terrorism would be the improvement of education, Khan cited Sri Lanka, where he said an insurgency continues to be a problem despite the majority of it population being well-educated professionals. Pakistan's literacy rate stands at 42 percent according to latest estimates, with the figure half that in lesser-developed areas.

Khan agreed with Ijaz Gilani, a researcher who said in an earlier interview that ideology was one factor behind terrorist activities, though they said this involved a minority of Pakistanis.

Separately on Tuesday secretary to the ministry of religious affairs V. Ahmad Khan refuted perceptions that the religious boarding schools or madrassah were a source of terrorism. The increase of suicide bombings, he said, "has nothing to do with the madrassah."

It is more to do with "poverty, lack of education, injustice to Muslims at the international level" such as those perceived their problems to have been caused by American policies in Palestine, Kashmir and Chechnya, Khan said.

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