ISLAMABAD, Jan 16: President Gen Pervez Musharraf has said that Pakistan’s image of a truly moderate and progressive Islamic state will only be restored after eradicating religious terrorism and extremism from the country.

Presiding over a meeting of the federal cabinet here on Wednesday, he said the action against religious terrorists and extremists had been taken after consultations with Ulema and Mashaikh who had fully supported his government’s stand to eliminate terrorism from the country.

He said these steps were in no way against Madaris which were playing an effective role. He said he had convened a meeting of the Mashaikh on Friday for further consultations on the issue.

He said the measures had been taken in the best interest of the country and they were aimed at negating the propaganda of those who were trying to distort the image of Islam and Pakistan.

The cabinet meeting was informed that so far 1957 arrests had been made and 615 offices of the banned organizations sealed throughout the country.

The president briefed the cabinet of the developments of the last two to three weeks including Afghanistan, Kashmir and Saarc summit.

About Afghanistan, Gen Musharraf said everything was moving well according to parameters visualized by Pakistan. He said Pakistan desired demilitarization of Kabul and

hoped that the presence of international peacekeepers would bring ethnic harmony, stability and help carry out rehabilitation.

He described the Saarc summit in Kathmandu as useful, providing an opportunity to interact with other Saarc leaders. He noted with satisfaction that his peace initiative for the region had been very well received by the Saarc member countries.

Gen Musharraf said Pakistan would move strongly on the diplomatic front on the issue of Kashmir and make every effort to focus the attention of the international community and the media on the plight of the Kashmiri people.

He also briefed the cabinet on the meetings he had with visiting US senators and congressmen and described them as very positive.