Whether the government actually does that is another matter. I am not referring here to the support given by the Musharraf government to the United States. There is no ambiguity about that. Pakistan has firmly aligned itself with the international coalition against terror. This was the right thing to do and the people support the government for taking the correct decision in the national interest. What is less clear is the approach that will be taken at home.

We have been victims of many forms of terror for too long. Some of these elements we know and have been trying to eliminate for years. Yet, there are others hiding behind emotive labels that are equally dangerous. They have a greater potential to destabilise our society than the criminal elements engaged in sectarian and ethnic terror. In the language of espionage, they are the sleepers. They cannot do much now, but if the conditions are right they will try and impose their will on the people of Pakistan. How the government intends to address this issue will determine our fate in the years to come.

I am wary of using terms like 'defining moment' to describe our situation but this may not be so far from the truth. Since the last Afghan war and Zia's imposition of a particular kind of orthodoxy, we have managed to create some monsters within. They are small in number and have very little impact on mainstream politics. Yet, they are organised and apparently well funded and have a far greater impact on decision-making than their numbers would warrant.

Everyone is calling General Musharraf's decision to join the western coalition courageous not because of the majority that sees our future in being aligned with the world. It is being called brave because he has chosen to ignore the potential of violence from a vocal minority. Such perception has been strengthened by recent coverage on international TV channels. Images of wild-eyed zealots burning American flags in Peshawar and Karachi present a distorted picture of widespread trouble and rampant fundamentalism in Pakistan. Nothing could be further from the truth but this is the power of organised fringe elements. With a few well-chosen demonstrations, they can create perceptions that are not easy to eradicate.

This distortion of our image has hampered us for many years now. Foreign investment is wary of coming here because people fear that their life and property would be in danger. Tourism has virtually dried up. I remember an American businessman telling me last year that when he landed in Islamabad he half expected bullets to be flying around. And members of a foreign flight crew, forced to halt between flights, astonished at how nice Pakistan and its people were. We have all been held hostage by this minority and it has hurt us beyond measure.

This distortion of our image has also played nicely into the hands of anti Pakistan elements in India. They have gone around the world preaching the mantra of a terrorist state against us. I can think of at least two moments when we came close to being declared as such. One in 1992-93 when the great General Javed Nasir was heading the ISI and later after the military coup in 1999. Maybe, our potential nuclear status and the risk of pushing us too far stopped the West. Maybe there was a better understanding of our internal situation than we think. One thing is clear though. If President Musharraf had not taken the right decision after the September 11 incidents, we would have found ourselves squarely in the rank of rogue states by now.

The power of this minority, this fringe cannot be ignored. It has hurt us in the past and it has the potential to play havoc with us in the future. This is not a misplaced apprehension as some commentators are fond of saying. It is a cold look at a reality that stares us in the face. We can continue to ignore it but it would be to our peril. The easiest thing is to do nothing. No feathers are ruffled, no hard decisions necessary. But, this will not solve the problem which will continue to fester. It is time to stand up and be counted.

It is in these terms that we may be close to a defining moment. The world is mobilising to fight terror. We have chosen to side with it for good reasons. Clearly, our national interest cannot be served by fighting the world. But, the essentials of our national interest do not end there. There are equally good reasons to join this battle at home. We have been pushed into a situation by circumstances beyond our control. We should see this as an opportunity rather than a predicament. We should take it as a wake up call, as an insistent reminder, to take care of some unfinished business.

What can and should be done. A beginning has been made by banning some radical organisations. This is not enough. We have to mobilise the resources of our state to go after them, to penetrate their inner core. To use President Bush's favourite expression, we need to smoke them out and then get them. The war against terror at home must be unceasing and relentless. That is the only way that these criminal elements can be brought to justice.

We also need to get serious about the de-weaponisation campaign. It is not enough to create statistics in the usual police way. Armed militias within the country must be disarmed and their training camps wound up. Remember the word blowback that is so popular in the context of the last Afghan war. Think blowback about the armed militias at home and then take the decisions that are necessary in our national interest.

We already have a sort of educational apartheid. The poor study Urdu medium and the rich the English medium. As someone said the other day, we have added another medium of religious schools which have a totally different curriculum. Let us do away with this apartheid. Let all school children, rich and poor alike, study the same basic curriculum. The nation cannot be kept together only by force of arms or common economic interests. Let us create a common nationalism.

These are just a few things that can be done. The most important step is to create the will to first recognise the problem and then take the necessary steps to fight this terror within. General Musharraf has seen in the last few days that if the right decisions are taken, the nation unites and is ready to stand behind him. Let him decide to wage the good fight within Pakistan and see how this nation rallies around him.