AMSTERDAM, Sept 26: President Gen Pervez Musharraf said on Sunday that Pakistan was out of a minefield of troubles it faced until a few years ago and urged the moderate majority to play their role in removing misconceptions about Pakistan and to take the country forward.

"It is absolutely wrong to say that we are an extremist society - but we need to correct misperceptions about our country - we must change the mind-set. Let us suppress extremism to achieve progress, befitting our enormous talent and resources," he said.

The president was addressing a gathering of Pakistanis living in the Netherlands on the first day of his two-day official visit to the European country. Pakistan, he stated, was clear about its objectives and had clearly laid out policies to achieve a sustainable socio-economic progress.

Gen Musharraf informed the gathering that having made remarkable economic strides, Pakistan would be the first country in the world to opt out of the International Monetary Fund's Poverty Reduction Growth Facility shortly.

"We are standing up on our own feet, with strong defence and a fast expanding economy we will scale new heights of development - we will be able to play a leading role in the Muslim world and an important role in world affairs, I have no doubt about this, but we must strive to take our destiny in our hands."

The president said the 99 per cent religious but moderate majority of Pakistanis should have a voice and must not stay silent and be hostage to the small minority whose actions led to misperceptions about Pakistan's society.

President Musharraf said the government had effectively defused misperceptions about cross-border terrorism in Kashmir, happenings in Afghanistan and nuclear proliferation and now it was focused on combating extremism and terrorism.

"Our country faced so many problems that it looked like a ship in minefield - tackling sensitive issues was like a tight-rope walk - but we have been successful and not only corrected misperceptions but also earned with a right strategy a rightful place for the country in the comity of nations," he said.

"We are using both political and military channels," he said, referring to the operation against foreign terror suspects in South Waziristan. President Musharraf emphasized that forces in Waziristan were taking action only against foreign terror suspects after receiving intelligence reports.

KASHMIR DISPUTE: Describing his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York as 'positive', President Musharraf said that efforts would be made to find a solution to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute for durable peace in South Asia.

He expressed the hope that the meeting would lead to 'a new era' and stressed that both confidence-building measures and the dialogue process should move ahead in tandem.

"My meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was positive - he is a good human being - the joint statement is a good resolve and all issues including Kashmir dispute will be addressed," he said. The president said as stated in the joint statement efforts would be made to find an acceptable solution to the over five-decade-old dispute. -APP