RAWALPINDI, Nov 28: The district governments can take action against extremist elements, the director-general, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi, said here on Wednesday.
Talking to Dawn after a reception, Gen Qureshi said action against extremist elements would begin from mosques and madressahs throughout the country.
HE SAID: “Anyone trying to misuse the platform of the mosque or seminary for promoting hatred against other sects and religions will be dealt with severely.”
The ISPR director-general said the government was committed to root out the menace of extremism and sectarianism once and for all.
Asked as to how this anti-extremist campaign would be different from those initiated in the past, Gen Qureshi said: “In the past these unscrupulous people were deliberately given chances to become moderates and join the mainstream, but, now time has run out and we have decided to get strict with them.”
About the sudden changes in the foreign policy after the September 11 incident, he said: “The cornerstone of our policy now is that Pakistan is Pakistan’s only friend, and we have decided not to rely on any ally.
“We are well aware of the steadfastness of our various allies in this campaign against terrorism, and we no more intend to live in the world of fallacies by over-depending on one or the other ally.”
Whosoever forms government in Kabul should very clearly have at the back of his mind that friction would not be in the interest of either of us (Pakistan and Afghanistan), he said.
Earlier, while speaking at the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) reception, Maj-Gen Qureshi elaborated four components of the Afghan policy being pursued by the government.
These are unified and secure Afghanistan; installation of a multi-ethnic broad-based government in Kabul in accordance with the wishes of the people of Afghanistan; future governance system in Afghanistan should be home-grown rather than being imposed from outside, and lastly a friendly government in Kabul.
He said Pakistan would only recognize a government in Kabul after the situation there had stabilized and an interim and broad-based multi-ethnic set up became functional.
Recalling the pre-September 11 ties with the Taliban, the ISPR chief said they were by no standards frictionless, and it was the Pakistan government that kept on tolerating them so as to provide ample opportunity to the student militia to realize that they were wrong.
Rejecting the impression that there is some sort of instability in the country, Gen Qureshi said everything was quite stable and the government was in strong hands.
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