February 04, 2007	Sunday	Muharram 15, 1428

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OKARA, Feb 3: President General Pervez Musharraf has sought public cooperation for eradicating the spate of suicide attacks from the country, saying that provincial and police authorities alone could not fight the violence.

He was addressing a public meeting at Jinnah Stadium here on Saturday after inaugurating the Okara-Depalpur bypass.

President Musharraf said people should identify the extremists who incited people and used places of worship for fanning hatred. He said youth were being brain-washed to become suicide bombers “which is un-Islamic”.

He said rather than external threats, Pakistan was facing internal threats like extremism and terrorism. He urged the people to cast their votes in his favour in the next elections for development of the nation and eradication of terrorism, extremism and sectarianism.

He said any law violating the spirit of Islam would never be enforced in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and there was no threat to Islam in the country.

President Musharraf said that the Kalabagh Dam would be constructed by 2015 or 2016.

He said between 1988 and 1999, the country witnessed no development schemes, except the Lahore-Rawalpindi motorway. During those years, country’s total resources stood at Rs70 billion as against Rs415 billion today, he said, adding that at present Punjab alone had resources worth Rs110 billion.

He said the country had achieved self-reliance and was capable of leading the Islamic world. He said Pakistan was the only country in the world that had freed itself from the clutches of the International Monetary Fund.

“We turned down a Rs280 million loan from the IMF three years ago,” said the president while criticising the past governments.

He said that parliament was going to complete its constitutional term after three decades in the country. He said by the end of the year, general elections would be held in the country.