Monday, September 11 2006 12:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Sydney: Australian Muslims must denounce terrorism rather than 'pussy-foot' around the links between Islam and acts of political violence, Prime Minister John Howard said today (Sept11, 2006). "We shouldn't pussyfoot around no decent, genuine Muslim would support terrorism," Howard said in an interview with The Australian newspaper coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the Sep 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. "On occasion they should come out and be more critical of terrorism," Howard said.

"We are confronting people who would deny our human rights," he said. Howard repeated a warning delivered earlier this month that among the 300,000 Muslims in Australia were some who were opposed to liberal values like democracy, freedom of religion and the equality of women. "There is a section of the Islamic population which will not integrate, does have values and attitudes which are hostile to Australia's interests, and I have said that before," he said. "And I would like the rest of the Islamic community to join the rest of the Australian community in making sure that the views and attitudes of that small minority do not have adverse consequences." Howard happened to be in Washington when hijacked jets were flown into buildings five years ago, leaving nearly 3,000 people dead. "I was getting ready for a news conference, and my press secretary, Tony O'Leary, said a plane had hit one of the towers in New York, the World Trade Centre, and then he quickly said in a few minutes another plane had hit," Howard recalled. "After the news conference was over we actually pulled back the curtain and could see the smoke rising from the Pentagon building," he said. Howard subsequently invoked the formal defence pact Australia has with the US and pledged support for the war on terror. Australia committed troops to the invasion of Afghanistan and, along with Britain and Poland, sent soldiers for the US-led war in Iraq.