WASHINGTON, Dec 12: Terrorists in Pakistan threatened attacks on President Pervez Musharraf, Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi said.

At a talk at the Brookings Institution, the ambassador called Pakistan “a victim of terrorism” where even the brother of the former interior minister was killed.

“The terrorists have made their intense hatred for the government’s policies no secret. They have threatened and continue to threaten attacks, even on the president,” said Qazi.

Embassy officials said on Thursday that the ambassador was speaking at a select gathering of US policy makers, academics and media on “Pakistan, the US and the war on terrorism.”

Gen Musharraf is a key US ally in the war against terrorism. After the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, he dumped Pakistan’s former Taliban allies in Afghanistan and joined the US-led war on terrorism.

The move annoyed the Taliban supporters both in and outside the country. Musharraf lives and travels in extreme security and Pakistani newspapers have reported at least half a dozen attempts on Musharraf’s life in the past year.

The government in the past refused to comment on such reports. Thursday’s release marked the first public confirmation from a Pakistani official that the president’s life has been threatened.

“Pakistan is under no illusion that the battle against terrorism will be a long, drawn-out affair, one that is fraught with difficulties and high costs,” he added.

The ambassador said that Pakistan has cooperated fully in the US-led war against terror and will not allow its territory to be abused for any violent action against any other state. “Pakistan remains committed to fighting terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We are closely coordinating our policies with Washington.”

He said that Pakistan has apprehended key Al Qaeda members and “continues to search, locate and put an end to this menace.”

Pakistan, Qazi said, has been a victim of terrorism for far too long. “Elements, some of them foreign, with an agenda to destabilize the country have long engaged in terrorist activities including bombings and hijacking. They have not even spared places of worship. Mosques and churches have been the target of these sick minds,” he said.

Their aim, the ambassador said, is to sow mistrust, hatred and fear in the population. With its limited resources, he said, the government has always fought back, apprehending the culprits as quickly as possible and enacting laws to safeguard the citizens.

Pakistan, being a frontline state in the war on terror, has had to endure numerous causalities of its security personnel ranging from losses in the Frontier Constabulary to bombings at the Karachi CID headquarters, said Qazi.

Unfortunately, he said, Pakistan’s losses were not telecast around the world although it has lost more security personnel than the international forces in Afghanistan.