ISLAMABAD, Jan 12: President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s address to the nation on Saturday evoked mixed reaction from a cross-section of society, with moderate and progressive segments taking a sigh of relief while the religious extremists blasting the government for “following the dictates of western powers”.

Mainstream political parties were also divided in their reaction to the president’s speech in which he unfolded a number of concrete measures to stem the tide of religious fanaticism and develop a tolerant and moderate society.

Chairman Pakistan Muslim League (N) Raja Zafar-ul-Haq said the government had accepted all the demands put forth by the Indian government.

The president had condemned the Oct 1 attack on the Srinagar parliament and what had happened in the compound of Indian parliament on Dec 13.

As regards the question of 20 alleged terrorists’ extradition to India, he said most of them were non-Pakistanis. He pointed out that five of them were Sikhs.

Now Indians are left with no justification to whip up war phobia in the region, he said.

The PML (N) chairman was critical of the measures announced by the president to regulate religious schools and mosques. He was skeptical about the government’s ability to regulate madaris and mosques through police which, he said, was corrupt to the core.

Pakistan People’s Party viewed the president’s speech in a totally different light, saying it failed in acknowledging that wrong policies were followed by the unelected government.

“It was expected that Gen Musharraf would apologise to the nation for following wrong policies during the last three years,” a PPP spokesman said.

Instead, he said, the president spoke of “state within the state” that had grown out of control where the writ of the government could no longer be followed.

Jamaat-i-Islami, a right-wing political party, also lambasted the president for overlooking the main issues confronting the country. Instead of addressing the more pressing issues of restoration of democracy, price hike, increasing unemployment, rampant corruption and inefficient state apparatus, he entangled himself in non-issues of mosques and madaris to appease the western powers, it said.

“It is quite strange that the president did not say a word about holding of elections in the country,” Acting Amir of Jamaat-i-Islami Syed Munawar Hassan said.

Joint Secretary of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) Mualana Atta-ur-Rehman said: “We have been saying from the day one that Musharraf is pursuing American agenda.”

He said all these measures taken by the government were meant to appease the United States and western nations.

Tehrik-i-Jaferia Pakistan, led by Allama Sajid Naqvi, condemned the ban imposed on his organization and vowed to take legal recourse against the decision of the president.

President Pakistan Muslim League (Q) Syed Kabir Ali Wasti welcomed the speech and said that now Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee should take the initiative to save the region from the scourge of war.