Pervez Musharraf: If you want to eliminate terrorism, look to its roots

From the address by the President of Pakistan to the United Nations General Assembly in New York

At the Millennium Summit, all of us were looking forward to a renaissance. A renaissance in the hearts and minds of people, for a better world where peace and justice would prevail. Unfortunately, today we gather against the sombre backdrop of the terrorist outrage that the world witnessed in shock and horror on that fateful day of l l September. In seconds, images of fire and death reached all of us. Thousands of innocent lives were lost in minutes. Eighty nations lost some of their brightest and their best. Pakistan, like the rest of the world mourned the colossal loss of innocent lives. The map of the world changed and the entire globe descended into a deep crisis.

Now that the world has bonded itself to fight against terrorism, it is time for introspection. We owe it to posterity that in this dark hour we shed light on some dangerous and growing trends, misconceptions and misperceptions which, if not cleared, may lead the world into even greater disorder and disharmony.

The religion of Islam, and Muslims in various parts of the world, are being held responsible for the trials the world is facing. This point of view is totally misplaced. Just as all religions teach peace and love for fellow beings, so does Islam place upon its adherents the obligation to do good, to be generous, merciful, kind and just to fellow beings. The Muslim greeting Assalam-o-Allaikm, meaning "Peace be upon you", symbolises the essence of Islamic faith. Islam is a religion of peace, of compassion and of tolerance.

Terrorism is not a Christian, Buddhist, Jewish or a Muslim belief. It is to be condemned no matter who the perpetrator, be it an individual, a group or a state.

We need to ask ourselves what really causes these extreme acts. To my mind, it is the unresolved political disputes the world over: disputes in Bosnia, Kosovo, Palestine, Kashmir and other places. Unfortunately, all these disputes involve Muslims, and, more sadly, the Muslims happen to be the victims, which tends to give a religious tinge to these otherwise political disputes. The lack of progress in resolution of these disputes has created in them a sense of deprivation, hopelessness and powerlessness. The frustration gets even worse when such disputes like Kashmir and Palestine remain unsettled for decades despite the United Nations Security Council resolutions. The question then is, whether it is the people asking for their rights in accordance with UN resolutions who are to be called terrorists or whether it is the countries refusing to implement the UN resolutions who are perpetrators of state terrorism. In Kashmir, Indian occupation forces have killed over 75,000 Kashmiris, attributing these killings to foreign terrorists. It is time India must stop such deceit. UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir must be implemented.

To fight the extremist, deprive him of his motivation. The extremist survives in an environment where millions suffer injustice and indignity. Deprive him of his support by giving the world peace, security, justice and dignity for all peoples regardless of faith, religion or creed.

A just and honourable solution for the people of Kashmir, an end to the miseries of the people of Palestine are the burning issues that have to be addressed vigorously, boldly, imaginatively and urgently. Unless we go to the root causes, cosmetics will only make matters worse. Consider the analogy of a tree. Terrorists are like so many leaves, you take out some, there will be plenty more and an unending growth. Terrorist networks are branches, you prune a few and there will be others and more growth. The only way is to go for the roots. Eliminate the roots and there will be no tree. The roots are the causes, which need to be addressed, tackled and eliminated, fairly, justly and honourably. Give people back their dignity, their self-respect, their honour.