BEN LADEN MIGHT BE HIDING AMONG AFGHAN REFUGEES IN PAKISTAN
PARIS-KABOL-ISLAMABAD 20 Sept. (IPS) Amidst unconfirmed reports that Mr. Osama Ben Laden, the prime suspect in the 11 September deadly attacks on the United States might have already left Afghanistan, the council of Afghan religious ulemas decided Thursday to ask the suspected terrorist to leave the country "voluntarily", according to the Taleban news agency.
Afghan sources that asked for anonymity speculated that Mr. Ben Laden, who
enjoys a heavy security, might have left Afghanistan, "disguised as a
simple refugee" and taking shelter among the hundreds of thousands Afghan
refugees living in camps in Peshawar, Pakistan.
["Jam Jam", a conservative daily published by the state-run Iranian Radio and Television that is directly under the control of Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’I said Thursday under a big title that Ben Laden is in Chenchenya, hinding in an anti-missile tuner.
Another daily, "Seday Edalat" said for its part that the Russians have found the suspect’s hiding refuge, which the paper did not identified.]
The Shawra, or the country's highest Islamic Council, formed of hundreds of senior clerics from all over Afghanistan, had been meeting since Wednesday at the request of the Taleban’s supreme leader mollah Mohammad Omar, to consider Afghanistan's response to growing menaces of possible US retaliation for the unprecedented terrorist operations in New York and in Washington D.C.
"The Shawra wants the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to encourage Osama to leave Afghanistan as soon as possible, but of his own free will and a time he considers opportune", the Taleban news agency and state-run Radio Shariat reported, adding that the Council also calls for a jihad, or holy war, if the US attacks Afghanistan.
Washington immediately rejected the decision and as huge armada was living Norfolk, led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier for the Mediterranean and US forces in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere around the world were placed on immediate alert, repeated that it wants Mr. Ben Laden, "dead or alive".
However, experts and analysts of Afghanistan and Pakistan affairs while expressing surprise at the decision, said in case Mr. Ben Laden complies with the decision, Washington would be placed in an awkward position.
"The decision would show that the Taleban are flexible and though they consider Mr. Ben Laden innocent, yet, they are ready to compromise", an Afghan analyst told Iran Press Service, adding that Mr. Omar is likely to follow the Council’s ruling, regardless of the fact that he wanted to continue protecting Mr. Ben Laden.
Noting that there is almost no country that would accept the suspected mastermind of the crushing of passenger aircrafts into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in the Federal Capital of fear of an international attack, analysts also accepted the possibility of Mr. Ben Laden’s flight from Afghanistan to a safe haven in Pakistan, where he is hailed as a hero by a majority of the population.
The ulemas had been meeting against the background of increasingly urgent warnings from neighbouring Pakistan that the country faces the wrath of the international community if it fails to comply with demands to hand over Mr. Ben Laden.
In speech delivered Wednesday evening, General Parviz Mosharraf, Pakistan's President and military ruler told his countrymen that considering "the gravity of the choices facing the region and Pakistan", he had no choice but accept co-operating with the United States in arresting Mr. Ben Laden, by supplying the US with over flying rights and intelligence, as well as logistical support.
"At this juncture I am only worried about Pakistan", the General said, adding: "We want to take decisions in the interest of Pakistan. I know that some elements are trying to take unfair advantage of the situation and promote their own personal agendas and advance the interest of their parties. They are poised to create dissension and damage the country. There is no reason why this minority should be allowed to hold the majority as hostage".
However, hundreds of protestors surged in the streets of Peshawar chanting anti-American slogans, burning effigies of President, George Bush, - wearing a coat with the words "Dog Bush" -- and shouting "long live Osama Ben Laden" and pledged a jihad, or holy war, against both America and the Pakistan government.
"If our government gives air or ground space to America, we will declare a jihad against the government", the Financial Times quoted Mr. Hafez Hussein Ahmed Madani, a protest organiser. "Afghanistan will be a graveyard of Americans if the USA attacks", another protester warned, as religious leaders have called a strike across Pakistan for tomorrow Friday.
Gen. Mosharraf acknowledged in his speech that many of his countrymen were bitterly opposed to his support for the US, but argued that the move did not go against the principles of Islam. He insisted that most Pakistanis understand the need to rally behind Washington and thus avoid being branded a pariah state.
It was the fourth successive day of protests in Peshawar, not far from the Afghan border and a key exit point for people and goods. The action has begun to spread across the country and to the main port city of Karachi.
Troops ringed the airport and city police deployed extra manpower to guard foreign consulates and businesses based in the sprawling city, which is Pakistan's financial capital and main port. In some areas, residents rushed to stock up on food.
Pakistan, the main supporters of the Afghan Taleban, is considered central to any attack on Afghanistan because of the extensive intelligence its police agencies have collected during eight years of close alliance with Afghanistan's Taleban rulers.
Anti-Taleban sources accuse Pakistan of providing the Taleban with military, logistic, intelligence and food supply.
"Without Pakistan’s massive support of all kind, including military, the Taleban could not last long", explained Mr. Latif Pedram, a Paris-based Afghan scholar, journalist and intellectual.
Changiz Pahlavan, an Iranian expert of the region who now teaches at Berlin universities said considering the widespread anti-American protests in Pakistan, orchestrated by religious parties, there are serious fears of the ethnically and religiously divided nation to disintegrate. ENDS AFGHANISTAN BEN LADEN 20901