RAWALPINDI, Jan 10: President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday warned of a sectarian catastrophe in the Muslim world and called for taking steps to control the centrifugal and divisive forces from within to avert a terrible crisis.

"If we don't put our act together, there will be sectarian catastrophe within the Islamic world," he said while addressing a convocation of the Army Medical College here.

Observing that the Islamic world was heading towards a crisis, President Musharraf said it would be "most terrible if we as a nation do not rise to the occasion, do not put our house in order and resolve the turmoil in the world as it can also affect us."

The president, however, expressed confidence that the nation would rise to the occasion and urged the people to consolidate themselves internally and follow the slogan of "Pakistan First". He said Pakistan was today playing a leading role for the world and the Ummah. "The world leaders are looking to bring peace to the world and Pakistan can play a pivotal role in this regard," he added.

President Musharraf said the only solution was to reject forces that fanned hatred, leading to sectarian strife. He asked the masses to participate in the electoral process and vote against all those who had any extremist agenda. He said in an Islamic society, there was no place for obscurantist elements that were trying to polarise society.

Emphasising the importance of education in bringing flexibility, understanding and harmony to the society, the president said the government was pursuing a holistic approach and working on a strategy to impart quality education.

"We have to concentrate on engineering, science and technology to sustain economic growth," the president said, adding that only an educated nation could survive in a knowledge-driven society.

He pointed at the wide gap between the developed world and Pakistan in education and said none of its universities ranked in the first 500 of the world. "We have to rectify it," the president said, adding that the government had adopted a strategy under which nine universities would be established, having international standards, their own syllabus, examination system and faculty to bridge this gap.

He said the number of students under the Ph.D programme had now risen to 1,000 from a mere two dozens and hoped that it would increase to 1,500 annually.

Speaking about the health sector, the president said the government was now concentrating on improving basic health units and rural health centres, besides tehsil and district hospitals to provide primary and secondary healthcare to the people close to their homes.

The president said since 60 per cent of the disease were waterborne, the government had embarked on a plan to install filtration plants at a cost of Rs7 billion by the end of the year. He directed the departments and organisations concerned to ensure regular maintenance and check on the quality of water supplied.

The president asked the young graduates of 25th MBBS and the 4th BDS course to devote their lives to the service of humanity, specially the underprivileged and the poor. He asked the civilian graduates to serve those in the rural areas and pointed at the facilities that were being extended to them at the BHUs and the RHCs.