BAHAWALPUR, March 18: War against terrorism will continue until objectives are achieved and a handful of miscreants cannot be allowed to set up a state within state and challenge the rule of law, says President General Pervez Musharraf. He was addressing the garrison officers here on Saturday.

The president highlighted the country’s geo-political and economic situation and said Pakistan had attained a dignified stature internationally in the past six years and its “successful foreign policy bears testimony to this fact”.

The president urged officers to concentrate on intensive peace time training and physical fitness.

He praised the role of the Armed Forces, particularly the Pakistan Army, in combating terrorism and relief work in the earthquake-hit areas in the NWFP and Azad Kashmir.

The president said that Pakistan Armed Forces had proved their mettle working as peacekeepers under the UN banner. He said that they had been priased wherever they worked as part of UN peace missions.

The president said: “We will maintain high standards of the army in line with requirements of contemporary times. Our defence and economy both are robust and we are facing no external threat. We are dealing effectively with menaces of terrorism and extremism. We will not allow any one to establish a state within state and challenge the rule of law. These handful of elements would be dealt with sternly.”

The government, he said, was endeavouring to provide state-of-the-art weapons and equipment to Pakistan Armed Forces to maintain a qualitative edge.

Referring to the economic reform agenda, President Musharraf said that the country’s economy had shown remarkable improvement and Pakistan had achieved a very good international rating. He said that the economic growth would be sustained and the government was ensuring that benefits of the growth trickled down to the grasroot level.—Agencies