ISLAMABAD, June 24: Pakistan's top civil-military body on Thursday vowed to rid the country of terrorism and religious militancy that has claimed more than 60 lives since May, AFP quoted officials as saying.

"If there is threat to Pakistan it is from (the) internal security environment," said President Pervez Musharraf, chairing the first meeting of the National Security Council (NSC).

"The participants reviewed the prevailing international and regional situation and its impact on Pakistan," an official statement said. They expressed their "firm resolve to take all possible steps for ridding the country of the scourge of terrorism, extremism and sectarianism," it said.

Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat explained Pakistan's stand on the "war against terrorism, government's initiatives, weaknesses, hindrances and recommendations."

Ahmed Hassan adds: Addressing the meeting, President Musharraf said he was disappointed by the boycott of the NSC meeting by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly.

He accused the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) of backing out of its commitments on the 17th amendment, a charge denied by the alliance. The president took 'exception' to the absence of the NWFP chief minister from the meeting.

He said that being the head of a provincial government the chief minister should have attended the meeting. "This is a very serious issue," he observed. Maulana Fazl, who is also MMA's secretary-general, and NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani boycotted the first NSC meeting in accordance with a unanimous decision of the alliance's supreme council which said that becoming a part of the NSC would be to endorse its formation and composition.

Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain, chief ministers of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee chairman and the services chiefs attended the meeting as its members while ministers for interior and foreign affairs, the NWFP governor and vice chief of army staff attended the meeting on special invitation.

President Musharraf, in his address, tried to dispel an impression that the NSC had been set up for his personal security and safety, and said: "I enjoy widespread support - and this forum is not there to ensure my personal security and safety."

He said the NSC was not a supra-constitutional body but a consultative forum to promote harmony on national security issues and to avert extra-constitutional take overs. With the NSC in place, he said, no army chief would feel the need to impose martial law since he would be voicing his opinion in this forum.

"If this forum rejects his views then he will not be able to impose martial law." He assured the participants that the council was not constituted with any ulterior motive nor was it meant to perpetuate his rule. "These are utterly wrong impressions."

The president said he was convinced that this forum would avert martial laws in the future. He argued that this body was necessary in the Pakistani environment as it represented all power centres.

He said that 'today's agenda' was internal security as, at this stage, the internal security dimension was very critical. Whatever security threat Pakistan faced was from its internal security environment.

He said the NSC was not aimed at reinforcing the president, rather it was a check on the office of the president as well. He underlined the need of seeing the NSC in a futuristic perspective as an important forum of the country having balanced representation of the federation, including provinces and the armed forces.

Earlier, participants were given a briefing on the rationale behind the setting up of the NSC. The recommendations and conclusions of the meeting would be forwarded to the government.