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Pakistan, Saudis to Cooperate on Terror

Pakistani Prime Minister Shujaat Hussein met with Saudi Crown Prince ‘Abdallah and committed to collaborate against terrorism at a weekend summit in Jedda, though no specific plans were announced, according to reports.

They also vowed to dispel misconceptions about Islam as a source of terrorism and work to forge an alliance of stability and peace in the Muslim world.

Saudi Arabia has seen several waves of terror attacks since May 2003, in which some 80 people, both Westerners and Saudis, have been killed by extremists; the state’s official branch of Islam, Wahhabism, is itself a fundamentalist and extreme form of the religion.

The Saudi government declared an amnesty on June 23rd for any suspect who approached the authorities within a month and several major suspects turned themselves in.

Pakistan has also witnessed a wave of terror attacks of late, targeting mosques and Western locales. Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf, a staunch supporter of the U.S. war against terror, has survived several assassination attempts. Part of the terrorism in that country is believed to stem from Sunni and Shi’ite infighting.

The meeting between the leaders came as an independent report on 9/11 was released claiming that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan did not act aggressively enough to stem Al-Qa’ida activities, but not directly linking the governments to the attacks. The report recommended improving relations with the two countries, which could potentially turn into bastions of Islamic extremism.