ISLAMABAD, Oct. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The Pakistani government Thursday expressed the resolution to eradicate terrorism from the country and decided to take measures to avoid attacks on innocent people following the deadly bomb blasts in the central city of Multan.

    Two bomb blasts exploded at a religious rally in Multan early Thursday, killing at least 39 people including four children and injuring over 100 others.

    Police chief in Multan, Talat Mehmood Tariq said some 1700 to 1800 Sunni Muslims gathered on Wednesday night in Multan's Rashidabad neighborhood to mark the first anniversary of the killing of their leader Maulana Azam Tariq.

    Azam Tariq was head of the outlawed Sunni extremist group Millat-e-Islamia, formally known as Sipah-e-Sahaba, and also a member of the National Assembly (lower house of parliament). He was killed with his driver and two body guards by unidentified gunmen in the outskirts of Islamabad last year.

    The police chief said a car bomb and a bomb on a motorcycle were detonated on Thursday morning through remote controllers whenthe gathering began to disperse. He said some six to seven kilograms of explosives were thought to be used in the car bomb blast.

    The blasts occurred just six days after a suicide bomb attack inside a crowded Shiite mosque in the eastern city of Sialkot on Oct. 1, which killed 31 people and injured over 70 others.

    Information and Broadcasting Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad Thursday termed the Multan incident as a barbaric act of those elements who want to destabilize Pakistan.

    "This is an act of those elements who want to create instability,chaos and lawlessness in the country. They are not Muslims and have nothing to do with Islam," Rashid said in an interview with the state-run Pakistan TV.

    He stressed the terrorists would be dealt with iron hand and that their nefarious designs would be crushed.

    Later Thursday, a high level meeting was held in Islamabad under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to review and discuss the law and order situation prevailing in the country.     

    Aziz vowed to root out the menace of terrorism from the countryand strongly condemned the terrorist attacks in Sialkot and Multan.

    He directed the provincial governments to take appropriate measures to prevent the occurrence of such incidents in future andurged all sections of the people to remain calm and to be united to combat terrorism in all forms and manifestations.

    At a news conference after attending the meeting, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said that the Pakistani government has decided to ensure the effective implementation of anti-terrorist law to deal with terrorist activities and that no banned organizations would be allowed to continue their activities.

    The provincial governments were advised to ban holding of religious gatherings. "The federal government has directed the provincial governments to make special security arrangements for Friday prayers," said Sherpao.

    He added that it was decided to hold a meeting of prominent ulema in collaboration with the Ministry of Religious Affairs for sectarian harmony.

    Pakistan, a major ally in the US-led anti-terror war, has banned all the registered radical groups in the country and nabbedor killed over 600 al-Qaeda operatives in the past two and half years.

    However, attacks on mosques and religious gatherings have never been avoided although the security around mosques throughout the country have been beefed up. There seems to be no efficient measures to stop such tragedies from taking place one after another.Enditem