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| Tuesday, 12 October 2004 |
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Pakistan, German leaders urge dialogue of cultures ISLAMABAD, Monday (Reuters) Europe should foster a dialogue with Muslims to help combat terrorism and prevent an iron curtain from descending between the two civilisations, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said. Schroeder and Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf were speaking to reporters after talks, hours after a suicide bomb in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore killed at least five people. Schroeder, in comments that echoed Musharraf's, said Europeans should foster a dialogue with Muslims to promote tolerance, mutual acceptance and trust between the religions. "I don't think we can allow such an iron curtain to be drawn again between us," he said in remarks translated by an interpreter. "It isn't the issue we are talking about, but (what) we rather pursue, or should opt for, is ... namely dialogues among the countries and civilisations." Musharraf alluded to remarks he made at the U.N. General Assembly last month that the world should not allow an "iron curtain" to fall between Muslims and the West. Musharraf said he believed Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted man, was still alive but could not say when he would be captured. "I do believe that he is hiding somewhere. I do believe that he is alive but I cannot be hundred percent sure he is hiding in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan." he said. "I can say that it is very possible that he is hiding in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan. As far as tracking him down is concerned I would like to say one cannot lay down a guess or estimate of when will he be tracked down. "It is an enemy which is hiding and moving so therefore one cannot be sure when we track him down. It can be very soon, or very late, your guess will be as bad as mine," said Musharraf. The Lahore bombing was the latest in a recent spate of religious attacks in Pakistan that have fuelled fears of a flare-up in sectarian violence between minority Shi'ite and majority Sunni Muslims. A car bomb attack on a crowd of radical Sunni Muslims in the city of Multan on Thursday killed at least 42 people and a suicide bombing at a crowded Shi'ite mosque killed 30 in the city of Sialkot on Oct. 1. Schroeder arrived in Pakistan on Sunday and met Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. On Monday he is due to fly to Afghanistan to meet President Hamid Karzai in Kabul. |
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