Lahore, June 08: In his boldest-yet swipe at Pakistan's resurgent Islamic hard-line groups, President Gen Pervez Musharraf today said he wants his country to be "progressive and dynamic," not a state ruled by Taliban-style Islamic laws. Musharraf derided some of the steps taken in the ultra-conservative North West Frontier Province, where the ruling Islamic alliance last week passed a bill instituting Shariah, or Islamic law.

The provincial government has also banned music on public buses, removed cinema billboards depicting women in Western clothes, and banned men from coaching female athletes, all steps reminiscent of Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers.

"Do we need a Talibanized Pakistan? Do we need the Taliban's Islam?" Musharraf said at a gathering of lawyers in this eastern Pakistani city. "We need a progressive and dynamic Pakistan."

A coalition of six radical Islamic groups -- the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, or United Action Forum -- is ruling the North Western Frontier Province after sweeping to power on an anti-American and pro-Taliban platform in general elections last October.

Musharraf is a strong supporter of the United States and the US-led war on terrorism.

Musharraf was particularly critical of the law and order situation in NWFP. Last month, police stood by as young Islamic activists tore down billboards advertising Western products. Hard-line supporters also attacked a circus, part of an effort to fight "obscenity."

"They are attacking circuses and ransacking billboards. What is this?" he said.

Bureau Report