Sunday, April 10 2005 11:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Identifying "religious terrorism" as the main threat faced by Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf has said his Government would use full force including that of assistance from military to "crush" the terrorist groups spreading hatred and sectarianism.

"Religious terrorists should be crushed with military and police action. We have to crush them. There should be no doubt in anyone's mind. We can not allow terrorism in our country," he said while addressing a student convention in Islamabad.

"The menace of extremism and terrorism has three facets including religious terrorism, religious extremism and sectarian extremism and terrorism and Pakistan is the only Muslim country that faced all of them," he said while identifying the "lashkars, Jaishes and Siphas" as groups that indulged in religious terrorism.

"International community is waging total war against terrorism. We must become an important full part in fighting terrorism. We must rise economically and politically and militarily so that we carve out niche internationally," he said.

The religious terrorists included those sectarians who created hatred among shia, sunni and other sects of Islam, he said and identified many of the mosques in the country as the main sources of spreading the philosophy of hatred.

Calling for public support to stop the misuse of mosques he said, "Those misusing the masjid to spread militancy and hatred should be stopped. If all of us do not stop, they will not stop," he said.