ISLAMABAD, May 24: President Gen Pervez Musharraf declared on Monday that Pakistan could not be led by religious fanatics and reiterated that operation against Al Qaeda would continue.

"We are 500 per cent sure that Al Qaeda activists are in Pakistan and 1,000 per cent sure that they are terrorists," he said in a speech at a students' convention held at the Convention Centre.

Gen Musharraf said the operation against Al Qaeda would continue and rejected allegations that the military action in tribal areas had been launched at the behest of the United States. "It is in the country's own interests," he stressed.

The president regretted that some parties and elements had made it a religious issue. He asked how could it be a religious issue when Al Qaeda men, tribesmen, the Frontier Corps personnel and troops were all Muslims. Pakistan could not be led by religious fanatics, he said.

Referring to his first telephonic conversation with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday, the president said there was a desire for peace on both sides.

"I found a positive desire to resolve all issues and to have excellent relations with Pakistan," he said.

Dressed in commando uniform, Gen Musharraf reiterated his call for a review of the Hudood and blasphemy laws.

"After all, these are human-made laws and there is no harm in reviewing them," he said, criticizing those opposed to a review of the laws.

He called for rejecting extremism and asked people to strive to become a 'tolerant, moderate and a progressive nation'.

He said the world had become a dangerous place to live in because of suicide bombings and bomb blasts and described those involved in terrorism in the name of Islam as enemies of Islam.

He said Pakistan was at a crossroads and it was time to choose between opportunities for progress and a path of pitfalls.

MISCONCEPTIONS: The president reiterated his call for removing what he called four misconceptions: that Pakistan was sponsoring terrorism in Afghanistan and Kashmir, that Al Qaeda terrorists were operating from its tribal areas, that the country was involved in nuclear proliferation and that it was an extremist, intolerant and militant society.

"We have to remove these misconceptions, otherwise there can be serious consequences," he told the audience of university students, provincial governors, ministers and intellectuals.

About nuclear proliferation, he said no one had the right to bargain on the interests of Pakistan.

"Even a national hero cannot sell the country's interests," he said.

The president said economic situation in the country had improved and referred to various development projects, particularly those relating to irrigation, the coastal highway due to be inaugurated by October, the Gwadar port scheduled to be opened by December and the planned expansion of the Pakistan Steel Mills in which China and Russia had shown willingness to take part.

He said Pakistan could play its role in the development of other Muslim countries and referred to plans to set up a 10-member commission to restructure the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Conference.

"We are to show light to OIC members. We are to provide them with materialistic support." About the country's geographical location, he said Central Asian states were looking for access to the world through Pakistan.