Pakistani leader blames West for attacks

? Under pressure to deliver on promises to root out Islamic militants, President Pervez Musharraf sought in a speech Thursday to shift some of the blame to Britain and the United States. Musharraf told a nationwide television audience that Pakistan faces “a very critical situation” amid allegations of a Pakistani link to the July 7 London bombings. But those attacks showed Britain must confront problems within its own borders, he added.

The Pakistani leader said he was concerned “at aspersions in the media being cast on Pakistan.”

Then, switching to English, he told listeners he was speaking directly to British Prime minister Tony Blair and his government.

“We certainly have a problem here (with Islamic extremism), which we are trying to address very strongly,” Musharraf said. “But may I say that England also has a problem, which needs to be addressed.”

Three of the four London bombers were Britons of Pakistani descent who traveled to Pakistan last year, Pakistani authorities have confirmed. Relatives of one said he visited a madrassa, an Islamic seminary near the eastern city of Lahore.

But the fourth bomber was of Jamaican heritage, Musharraf pointed out. “Where did the Jamaican get his indoctrination?” he asked.

On Monday, Musharraf acknowledged in a speech to a national youth convention that some madrassas in Pakistan are involved “in extremism and terrorism.”

The best strategy against terrorism, the Pakistani leader said in his speech Thursday, is for allies “to encourage and support each other, rather than speaking against each, and blaming each other, and weakening the overall cause.”

“Musharraf has demonstrated once again that he has two faces,” said Farhatullah Babar, a senator and spokesman for exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party.

“From one face he wants to project ‘enlightened moderation’ to the world. From the other, he wants to chase and victimize the moderate voices in the country.”