ABU DHABI, June 5: President Gen Pervez Musharraf said on Sunday that Pakistan had effectively countered terrorism but stressed that concerted and pro-active efforts were needed from all segments of the society to deal with the malaise of extremism. “We have to make collective efforts to address religious extremism and check sectarian violence,” he said, wrapping up his two-day state visit with an address to a gathering of Pakistani community residing in the oil-rich Gulf country.

The president said there had been no incident of terrorism in the last one year as a result of the government’s strong campaign against terrorists. However, he said, there had been some incidents of sectarian violence and stressed that all Pakistanis had to unite in maintaining a peaceful environment for the country’s sustained economic progress.

“We have to maintain harmony and peace for our continued development and our socio-economic well-being — all segments of the society have to fulfil their inescapable responsibility vis-à-vis checking the misuse of mosque loudspeakers for inciting discord and publication and spread of hate material etc.”

Pakistan, he underlined, was a country on the rise, having strengthened the military and economic pillars and was now firmly on course to sustaining higher economic growth in both agricultural and industrial sectors.

“So, you must have pride and confidence in your country and put your country first — economy has been put on sound footing — Pakistan is a country that is moving forward to achieve progress in accordance with its true potential.”

Pakistanis living on foreign soils, he said, contributed immensely to the country’s economic development by remitting foreign exchange and added that in the last three years Pakistani expatriates remitted $12 billion.

The contribution from the Pakistanis living in the Gulf had been around $5 billion, he noted and lauded the hardworking Pakistanis for their contribution of Rs300 billion to the prosperity of people back home.

“You are the real Pakistanis — the asset of the country — your contribution to Pakistan’s economic development is immense,” he added.

Earlier, Pakistan’s Ambassador Air Marshal Syed Qaiser Hussain said the president had deep respect for hardworking expatriates as they were the real ambassadors of the country.—APP