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Pakistan's envoy Dr Maleeha Lodhi said a distinction should be made between a renewed campaign that was underway to crackdown extremism and the investigation being conducted into where the two suicide bombers involved in London blasts went during their trip to Pakistan.
In an interview with BBC Radio Five, Maleeha said the latest crackdown on militants was part of an on-going campaign. Pakistan, which had been on the frontline in the war on terror, neither needed nor wanted to do anything to placate external powers.
It believed terrorism was a threat to the very fabric of Pakistani society and its record is there for everyone to see.
However, she said: "fighting terrorism was a long process and not a single action hence it was going to be a long haul and "this is exactly what is happening."
The two assassination attempts on President Musharraf, she said was part of the backlash of Pakistan's decision to support the international coalition to fight terror.
"What we do in Pakistan is dictated by our interests and our national imperatives and not because we want to placate anybody or need to engage in PR exercises," she said.
She said investigations were underway to determine what the two suicide bombers of the London blasts did or who they met, when they visited Pakistan because so far only records of their entry and exit was found.
Secondly, Pakistani authorities had intensified their crackdown as part of the counter-extremism campaign being carried although this got media attention at times like this. She said arrests made during the two days were of members of outlawed and banned militant organisations in Pakistan because they were involved in activities inconsistent with the anti-terror legislation of Pakistan.
To question did they belong to al Qaeda, the envoy said, she was not in a position to comment because they had yet to be identified. She said getting into specifics on their arrests might compromise the on-going probe.
Replying to a question on religious schools in Pakistan, she said, the country had embarked on broad-based campaign and madressa reform had been part of it because it was a drive to promote moderation and counter extremism.
"We have not been sitting back in Pakistan," she said, adding that extremism was a global phenomenon.
"I think we need to look at how internationally we can collaborate effectively to ensure that we are able to address this phenomenon, which have both internal and external dimensions and this was also the case with Pakistan."
About the al Qaeda training camps in Pakistan, the envoy said, "if any body has intelligence on these it should provide this to us and we will move against them."
She said Pakistan has deployed 70,000 troops and para-military forces on the long and porous border with Afghanistan. Maleeha said Pakistan had arrested over 600 suspected terrorists.
Asked why Pakistan has intensified its campaign following London bomb blasts, she said Islamabad had embarked on this campaign for a long time but it could get media attention only in times like these.
She said, the US had "appreciated our co-operation. We have been on the frontline in the war on terror and our actions speak louder than other people's words. We have put our money where our mouth is. "Our President has been the target of assassination attempts, including two suicide bombings."
She said suicide bombings in Pakistan were unheard of until recently. In response to a question about how much Pakistan was to blame, she snapped back by saying, "this is an issue, which is far too serious for us to get into apportioning blame to countries."
"This is something which the international community had got to work together as we are in this together. There is collective responsibility that devolves on every body."
Besides short term steps like strengthening policing and law enforcement, she said the long-term strategy should be planned to win the battle for hearts and minds and "we must address the disputes that leads to the kind of disaffection and alienation that provides breeding grounds for terrorism."

Copyright Associated Press of Pakistan, 2005

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