Pak. begins talks to end blockade

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, OCT. 30. Alarmed over reports of continued blockade of the Karakoram Highway (KKH) by the pro-Taliban supporters in the North-West Frontier Province - to protest the Musharraf regime's support to the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan - the Pakistan Government has started negotiations with leaders of the protesters.

The Press Secretary to the Pakistan President, Maj. Gen. Rashid Quereshi, said at a news conference here today that the Government was hopeful of a breakthrough in a day or two.

The blockade of the KKH for the fifth day has caused serious concern to the Government.

The highway is the lifeline of Northern Areas and links Pakistan to China.

`Abandoned airstrip'

The `airstrip' occupied by the pro-Taliban elements (mostly tribesmen) had been abandoned long ago and was no longer in use, Maj. Gen. Quereshi said. ``It is the ground on which children were playing cricket. If some people go and squat on it, it does not amount to capture of an airstrip.''

The blockade is undoubtedly the most serious challenge faced by Islamabad since it decided to extend its unstinted cooperation to the U.S. in its fight against Osama bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.It clearly does not want to resort to strong-arm tactics as it could precipitate matters.

Denying reports in a section of the media that Pakistan had handed over three of its former nuclear scientists to the U.S. authorities, Maj. Gen. Quereshi said ``there is absolutely no truth in them.''

However, two of the scientists associated with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission had been questioned by the authorities as they had floated a non-governmental organisation, involved in Afghanistan.

``The two scientists were not connected with nuclear weapons- related programmes. We have gathered that the scientists were travelling to Afghanistan to teach Afghans about alternate cropping after the Taliban banned poppy cultivation.''

Reacting angrily to the report in the New Yorker magazine that a special U.S. unit was training with Israeli commandos to remove Pakistan's nuclear weapons to safety in case of a coup against the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Maj. Gen. Quereshi said ``the U.S. State Department has already denied the report. It is a ridiculous statement... Let me say with all the authority at my command that there is no question of anyone attempting such a thing.

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