Every time I visit a new Muslim country, I am struck by its differences and similarities with Pakistan. The same multiple calls to prayer echo across cities; men often sport beards and/or moustaches; and the women are mostly modestly dressed.

But all too often, the similarities end here. In Morocco, where I was recently, the streets are clean; women work in homes, offices and shops, and are highly visible; people are friendly and courteous to foreigners; and there are few beggars. Above all, there is a respect for the law that no longer exists in Pakistan.

In a recent table comparing freedoms available to the citizens of the Arab world published in the Economist, Morocco was at the top of the league. The different elements of democracy that were compared included political freedom, rule of law, religious freedom, press freedom, economic openness and women's rights. Countries were graded from one for "dismal" to ten for "perfect". Morocco scored 35 out of a possible 60 while Saudi Arabia got 13 and was at the bottom of the table.

Granted that this is a fairly arbitrary exercise, it is nevertheless revealing of how these countries are perceived abroad. More troubling for many of these nations is the fact that, according to a study conducted by the Arab League, in ten years' time, 50 million young Arabs will be unemployed, as against 15 million today.

But even more alarming for both Arabs and Europeans is a finding by the UN's 2002 Arab Human Development Report according to which 51 per cent of Arab youths say they want to emigrate. Already, Europeans are growing increasingly uncomfortable with their 12 million or so Muslims.

With growing populations, mounting unemployment and increasing frustration among young Arabs over lacks of freedom and opportunities in their own countries, it seems inevitable that a fresh wave of illegal emigrants is set to enter Europe.

What is worrying politicians and the public in Europe is that by allowing more Muslims to enter, they are risking the presence of an increasing number of Islamic terrorists.

The recent train attacks by suspected Moroccan extremists in Spain, together with arrests in France of alleged members of the Moroccan Islamic Combatants Group, point to the presence of terror cells in several European countries. Last week, police in Britain scooped up eight young men of Pakistani origin for a suspected terrorist plot.

The presence of so many Moroccans in these attacks and plots seems odd, when their country is so much freer and more prosperous than most Arab countries. Conventional wisdom has it that extremism is a by-product of poverty, unemployment, and frustration over lack of freedom. And yet those who have been involved in terrorism have generally been educated and from the middle-class.

An Indian reader has pointed out that the absence of any Indian Muslim from global Islamic militancy and terror tactics would seem to indicate that democracy provides an escape valve for frustration.

Another explanation could be that Indian Muslims have not been in close contact with the extremist groups that were battle-hardened in Afghanistan and then spawned outfits to fight across the world.

There does not seem to be a single template that fits all the profiles of Islamic terrorism. Different agendas drive these desperate men who are united only by a vague, amorphous anti-Western sentiment that causes them to plant bombs from Bali to Madrid. But clearly, this motivation is powerful enough to commit suicide if that's what it takes to kill innocent people.

Whatever the explanation, the fact is that random terror perpetrated by Islamic militants is closing doors to many ordinary Muslims, who want nothing but the opportunity to work and live their lives peacefully.

However, it is the sons of precisely this category of average, hard-working immigrants who were born and brought up in the UK who are now seen to be potential terrorists.

Despite this tension, there is another model described by Ian Fisher in the International Herald Tribune recently. According to the UN World Tourism Organization, tourism within the Arab region grew faster in 2003 than in any other region. This increase is not due to an influx of Western tourists, but is caused by more Arabs visiting their neighbours than ever before.

One reason for this trend is that Arabs are expressing their anger with the West by refusing to spend their money there; another is the difficulty in obtaining visas for America and European countries.

The major beneficiary of this tourist bonanza is Syria, a country that scores only 20/60 on the Economist's table, but does get 8/10 on religious freedom and 7/10 on women's rights.

Despite its lack of a free press or other personal freedoms, Syria does have relative tolerance of different lifestyles, mountains, beaches and cheap shopping. In 2003, it was the destination for two million tourists.

Tourism to the UAE, a country that has reinvented itself as a major commercial and banking hub for the region, grew at 32 per cent over the previous year. The one thing in common among those Muslim countries that attract large numbers of tourists is that alcohol is easily available to visitors; women are not hassled; and foreigners are not made targets, whatever their religion.

Unfortunately, Pakistan is not an attractive destination on any of these counts. For reasons purely of our own making, we get virtually no slice of the world's largest single industry.

No tourist agency abroad now advises its clients to visit our shores, and most of them do not even sell PIA tickets. It is years since I saw an ad or an article promoting the delights of a holiday in Pakistan in any foreign publication.

In the seventies, Bhutto had the vision to try and position Pakistan as a destination for pleasure-seeking Arabs. He gave permission for a casino, and a couple of five-star hotels. All we have today is a handful of sheiklets who come annually to slaughter the few endangered houbara bustards that are left.

When I am abroad, I am often asked if Pakistan is safe to visit. I give a guarded reply, suggesting that there are areas of Karachi I would not feel safe in, just as I would not go to parts of London by choice. But when attacks by militants make the headlines repeatedly, it is difficult to convince people that Pakistan is safe to visit.