ISLAMABAD, Aug 6: The following are excerpts from President Pervez Musharraf's opening remarks at his Dawn panel interview published in Thursday's issue. Everyone has views, and views must be expressed very frankly and without inhibitions.

That is why I am a strong believer in a free media, electronic and press, that is the future course and any enlightened nation must follow that course. We are an enlightened nation and we will become more so in the future. Therefore, freedom of expression and freedom of speech and independent views are more than welcome as far as I am concerned.

If there is genuine opposition of my views, this is all right, I have no problem with it. I don't mind opposition to my views. Everyone has her/his own views. What needs to be harmonized is, I believe, something you may not know and don't understand.

That is where harmony has to be built. This lack of harmony is there - may be due to lack of communication between government, people and the media. Secondly, there are some columnists who write out of their own pure compulsion. They have to be against and that I don't condone.

I am not concerned about them because they have a certain mindset which cannot be changed. My concern is to harmonize where there is lack of understanding due to lack of contacts, for which I have decided to sit with groups like you on a fortnightly basis to have a better understanding. I know what you are writing in columns and editorials on certain key, ongoing issues on which I will give you my comments.

TERRORISM: The most important current issue is terrorism. I would like to relate it to religious and sectarian extremism, because they are interconnected. This is the main threat I feel to Pakistan and it must be understood in its correct perspective.

In Wana, a serious politico-military action is going on. I know that you have been writing that this has not been handled well, and that the opposition could have played a role.

On both counts, I disagree. In my judgment it is going very well and I will justify it. When you say opposition, you mean the MMA probably. Others I don't think could have played a role, the PPP cannot play any role.

As far as the MMA is concerned, they do not even agree that Al Qaeda was present there. If we would take the MMA with us, they would interact with local prayer leaders of Wana, whereas the government, through the governor, is interacting through different channels, that is, through political agents, jirgas, tribal elders and local people.

When a couple of times we involved the MMA, total displeasure was expressed from the opposite camp and there was total confusion. So what we are doing by involving local people is the right course of action. We involved them (MMA) to get the people in Wana to surrender, but they could not get even one man to surrender. So this is what the opposition could not do.

We have adopted two routes, military and political, but a few anchorpersons supposedly with good reputation during their talk shows say that the operation is being carried out in a confusing manner.

What confusion? We are using two channels. Sometimes we have to put pressure. If political action does not work, we put pressure through the military. This is how we are doing it and doing well.

All coercive measures taken in Wana, like sealing of shops, demolishing houses, have been done according to local tribal traditions. Obviously, there cannot be an ideal handling of such a complicated situation. And we are meeting a lot of success.

There are international dimensions of extremism and sectarianism. Therefore, there is a requirement for long as well as short-term strategic planning, and this we are doing through a strategy of enlightened moderation.

While the Muslim world rejects extremism, the West should resolve political issues (Iraq, Kashmir, Palestine, Afghanistan) and disputes, and then help us resolve the issues of education and poverty. Then I believe it will be a win-win situation for the Muslim world.

The root cause of extremism is lack of education and abject poverty in countries like ours. Young people are brainwashed to go to heaven instead of living in this world which they happily accept when they see that there is nothing for them in this world. This is the long-term strategic planning.

And in the short-term, through law-enforcement agencies, we are frontally facing them. Terrorist groups operate on three tiers - one, the executers, those who execute actions, the other the planners, who plan the operation, and the third tier is the mastermind, who initiates an idea about who to attack, and each group does not know the other one.

And if you don't get the planner, he will again collect 10 to 12 people and execute another plan. That is how it's happening in Pakistan. We are attacking the masterminds who all have their origin in the mountains of Pakistan in the form of Al Qaeda from where the ideas originate and all other help comes in.

Attaur Rehman, who was the mastermind behind the attack on the corps commander, Karachi, was behind six such attacks. We have totally eliminated that group after capturing Attaur Rehman. The planner in my case is still at large.

If we look at our social structure, we are religious but moderate people. Out of this vast majority of moderate religious people, there is a fringe who are fundamentalists. I call those people fundamentalists who are anchored in history; they don't want the real values of Islam to be brought in harmony with the 21st century.

They only believe that a Muslim should keep a beard or observe the veil, etc. Out of this fringe, there is another group whom I call extremists. They want to impose their will on others.

There are 15 organizations like Jaish and Lashkar who are extremists and want to impose their views on others. From these organizations, planners recruit terrorists who are ready to go even for suicide bombing. We need to keep a watch on these organizations because they are producing terrorists. I believe the planners are always Pakistanis.

This is how we are dealing with terrorists in the mountains, in the cities and towns. If you reflect back, you will recall there were open recruitments under these organizations all around the country, which has been stopped, so one should know as to what extent we have advanced.

On this issue, the role of civil society is not positive. Unfortunately they are bystanders and I think the media has to inform them what their role is in such situations.

What happened in Gujrat recently? Foreigners were living there. Didn't people living in that area know who these foreigners were? Only intelligence agencies cannot do this unless the people at large help the law enforcement agencies. I have heard that they hire houses on very high rents and then bring in explosives and weapons with impunity.

BALOCHISTAN: In Balochistan, the situation is not explosive, believe me. Rather, some people are against Gwadar port and are playing into the hands of the enemy. We want to create cantonments at Sui, Kohlu and Gwadar. I am confident that with the coming up of cantonments, the situation will be under control.

You people have also written that without improving recruitment standards and the pay structure of police, the condition of law and order will not improve which is wrong if you know the ground realities in Balochistan.

In Balochistan, only five per cent area is A area and 95 per cent is B area. We want to convert the entire province into an A area. The B area is controlled by tribal chiefs and the entire income of that area goes into the pockets of these chiefs.

To control this problem we have decided to bring in force in four tiers - the police, constabulary, Rangers and the army. The plan will be executed at the cost of billions of rupees. For this we need training institutions which are not there right now and which cannot be set up overnight.

KARGIL: The Kargil episode is a sensitive issue and there is a security aspect involved in it and as a nation we have to accept this. It is unfortunate that ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif in an interview to India Today has given casualty figures which is shameful.

In their (India's) own magazines, there were scandals about coffins and stories about posthumous Mahavir Chakras (the highest military award). After a few days they came to know that the person was alive. Just look at their state of confusion.

There are also stories about fake encounters at Siachen, where Indian soldiers have concocted stories that they are attacking Pakistani soldiers, etc. And it hurts me when a person who has been in the position of prime minister of Pakistan undermines his own armed forces.

When Kargil started, on May 22, two Indian aircraft intruded into Pakistani air space which were shot down. Before May 22, Mr Nawaz Sharif and I went to Azad Kashmir and a lot of other places along the LoC, and we were not there to have only a cup of tea. If he (Nawaz) says that he did not know, then I couldn't say anything and wouldn't say anything beyond this and leave it at that.

OKARA: Let's come to Okara military farms. Let me tell you that earlier there was a battai system. I knew all this because I was GOC over there. According to this system, 63 per cent of the produce was taken by the government and rest 37 per cent was for the farmers.

It was all a fraud, because the profit was going into the pockets of middlemen. We have changed this system into a contract system. It was my decision. Under the current estimates, the rate of per acre lease is around Rs10,000 to Rs 15,000.

Under the present contract system, Rs2,500 to Rs5,000, depending on the quality of land, will be charged by the government and rest of the money would go to the poor farmers. They will be given land on seven years' lease and there will be no escalation of government charges during this time. By this, the government will also earn more and poor farmers would be earning five times more than they were earning before.

I have also directed the authorities to build model villages for them, or give them ownership rights of the houses but not of the land. Let them own their houses. If you want to play into the hands of a few elements who are agitating the farmers at Okara military farms against the military for whose welfare the government has taken so many steps, carry on doing this, we don't mind. We will give all details. There is no secrecy involved in it.

HONOUR KILLINGS: About honour killings, you have written that time is of the essence. I don't know how time is of the essence, if (it has not been) for the last 50 years. I am the one who is keenest to see the bill passed. If you think with the passing of the bill, honour killings will be stopped, then you are wrong.

Until the mindset and attitude of the people are not changed, nothing will change. If a judge of the subordinate judiciary does not believe that honour killing is wrong, then who will pass judgment? The bill is a good step, but it's not the end of honour killings. I again request you people that the media can bring about change. You people have to change the mindsets of the people.