Thursday, July 21 2005 21:44 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Under mounting pressure after the London attacks and accused of not doing enough to tackle terrorism, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf tonight (July 21, 2005) said there were extremist organisations operating with impunity in Britain and it should do something about it.

In a televised address to the nation, Musharraf said it was unfortunate that Pakistan was either directly or indirectly dragged into all terror attacks and Islam was being denigrated.

Referring to the London terror strikes, he said three of the four accused had Pakistani parentage. But they were British nationals, born, educated and bred in England.

Musharraf said one of the extremist organisations in Britain had passed an edict on his life but continued to operate freely. While a lot need to be done internally in Pakistan, "A lot needs to be done in the UK".

Musharraf argued that if three of the four accused in the London blasts had been indoctrinated as alleged, what about the fourth accused, a Jamaican?

Observing that Pakistan was passing through trying times, Musharraf said instead of blaming and accusing each other, the correct strategy would be to support one another in the joint fight against terrorism.

He regretted that Islam was being dubbed as an extremist religion, which was intolerant and backs terrorism and fundamentalism whereas the religion has clearly spelt out that killing of even one human being is against the entire humanity.

"But actions speak louder than words," he said adding it besmirched the image of Pakistan and Pakistanis living in Britain.

Switching from Urdu to English, Musharraf said he strongly condemned the recent terror strikes in London. "I don't think the perpetrators of this act can be called human beings."

He said Britain and Pakistan should "stand together in this struggle and fight terrorism to the end until we emerge victorious against them and eliminate them".

Musharraf hit out at the British media for "casting aspersions" on Pakistan.