DOCUMENTS ON BEN LADEN PART IN US ATTACK "CONVINCING", MOSHARRAF
By an IPS correspondent in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD 5 Oct. IPS) Pakistan’s strongman General Perviz
Mosharraf described Friday documents he received from visiting British Prime
Minister Tony Blair indicting Mr. Osama Ben Laden in the 11 September terrorist
operations in the United States as "convincing".
"Though I don’t want to stand as a judge, yet, I consider the documents (concerning Mr. Ben Laden’s participation in the deadly suicide operations in New York and in Washington D. C.) both as "sufficient and convincing", President Mosharraft said at the end of his meeting with the British Prime Minister.
Speaking to reporters during a joint press conference in Islamabad, Mr. Blair said he provided Mr. Mosharraf "enough" documents and pieces of conviction concerning the active participation of Mr. Ben Laden’s organisation, "Al Qa’eda", in the 11 September terrorist operations.
However, he added, he could not make them public, "due to security and intelligence considerations".
"Pakistan feels that there is evidence which is leading to an association between the terrorist acts in United States and Osama Ben Laden", Mr. Mosharraf said, adding: "However Pakistan is not standing in judgment on the details of this evidence".
"Pakistan has agreed to cooperate (with US) in exchanging information and intelligence, utilisation of its air-space and logistic support", General Mosharraf said, adding that details of the co-operation have not been worked out yet.
"President Mosharraf and I share the evidence against Osama Ben Laden, which is overwhelming and compelling", Mr. Blair said, adding that several of the hijackers have been traced "directly to Al-Qa’eda camps in Afghanistan".
He reiterated that any action to be taken against Mr. Ben Laden, the prime suspect in the horrific terrorist attack on the United States and his organisation should not be considered as being against the Afghan people or Islam, which, he said, is a religion of peace and vast majority of peaceful Muslims living in Pakistan, Britain and the world were appalled by the terrorist attacks".
"Pakistan has taken a brave and right decision to place Islamabad as a key member of the international coalition against terrorism", the British Prime Minister told journalists, praising President Mosharraf’s courage and leadership that are not just a tribute to him but serve directly the interests of Pakistan.
Mr. Mosharraf said the replacing of the ruling Taleban in Afghanistan was another major issue he discussed with Mr. Blair.
He said they exchanged notes on the issue of Afghanistan. He said they exchanged each other's concerns on the happenings in Afghanistan and likely future events in that country.
Having failed to persuade the Taleban to be more co-operative on the Ben Laden issue, the Pakistani leadership is now trying to safeguard its foothold in Afghanistan by securing a major role for the Afghan Poshtoons in any future Afghan government that would replace the falling Taleban, analysts said.
Changing his initial strategy that consisted in saving their Taleban protégés with a U turn, Mosharraf wisely extended his hand to the former Afghan Monarch Mohammad Zaher Shah -- who is also of Poshtoon origin --, and offered him a "temporary" sanctuary in an undisclosed area near the Afghan border where the newly formed anti-Taleban coalition named Supreme Council for National Unity (SCNU) he is to preside over could convene its first session.
The SCNU was agreed at the end of three days extensive and at times stormy discussions held early this week in Rome between representatives of various Afghan groups and organisations opposed to the ruling Talean, including the Northern Alliance of former Commander Ahmad Shah Mas’ood and advisers for the 86 years-old former Monarch.
The newly formed 120 members entity is to meet again next week to elect a president and a board as well as the place where to convene its first plenary meeting.
"The fact that Mr. Blair has agreed that any successor to the Taleban must be broad-based is an indication that President Mosharraf has met with some success in his new policy", one Pakistani analyst told Iran Press Service in Islamabad.
"During our detailed discussions with President Mosharraf, we agreed that if the Taleban fail to yield up Osama Ben laden and their Government falls, then their successors must be broad-based, consisting of every key ethnic grouping including the Pashtoon", Mr. Blair said in response to President Mosharraf’s explicit demand that "Pakistan’s interests in Afghanistan must be safeguarded".
Mr. Blair acknowledged that Pakistan has a "valid interest" in wanting to have a close involvement with any future successor to the Taleban in Afghanistan.
General Mosharraf said he discussed with Mr. Blair, who, since the "black" 11 September that saw the crushing of two American jetliners into the twin towers of World Trade Center in New York and another one over the Pentagon building in Washington, acts as the US President’s "janissary", bilateral relations and thanked Mr. Tony Blair for his "understanding of the problems being confronted by Pakistan and his Government".
He also thanked Mr. Blair for the "generous and prompt" assistance promised by both the United Kingdom and the European Union to the Pakistan’s collapsing economy and assurances of future assistance.
"We discussed in great details all issues of bilateral concern though they focussed a lot on the outcome of what happened on the 11th of September", a visibly satisfied Mosharraf said, adding that Pakistan "certainly looks forward to a much healthier, much closer and much better relations with UK in future".
At this point, Mr. Blair promised that Britain would take necessary steps for the European Union’s Trade and Co-operation Agreement with Pakistan to be finalised on Monday and added that his and other countries would also provide resources necessary to help Pakistan coping with the significant refugee problem.
They are providing forty million dollars for Afghan refugees and another fifteen million dollar to assist their needs in Pakistan. He said they believe that solution of the humanitarian crisis is as important as any action.
He said they have also agreed to restart UK-Pakistan Defence cooperation.
Asked about the dangers any attack on Afghanistan would present for the Afghan civilians, Mr. Blair stressed that any action they take would be "proportionate and precisely targeted against perpetrators" of the act and not against Afghan people. "We want justice and not revenge", he pointed out.
"Pakistan has made right choices and the result will be a significant and lasting strengthening of outside world's relations with Pakistan. Britain will play its full part and would not walk away neither would others", he strongly emphasised.
Meanwhile, more than 800 Taleban fighters and commanders have defected to the United Front in Badghis Province during this past week, the official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted Friday a United Front spokesman as having said.
"As a result, vast areas close to the provincial capital of Qale-Now have come under the control of the anti-Taleban alliance led by Commander Esam’il Khan", IRNA quoted spokesman Mohammad Es,haq.
"The Mojahedeen's victories in Badghis pave the way for their operations on the key western city of Heart", he added, according to IRNA.
In a related story, the agency, quoting unidentified Afghan sources, said 10.000 Taleban soldiers in Balkh, Samangan and Baghlan provinces were ready to join the Northern Alliance forces while more than 200 Taleban fighters had joined the Front forces in Dawlat Shah District of eastern Laghman Province.
"The Taleban have evacuated their traditional bases around Kabul and brought most of their troops close to the fighting front north of the city", it said, adding that the Taleban are also evacuating most of the Sh’ia controlled areas. ENDS PAKISTAN TALEBAN 51001