Pak. 'ulema' fails to convince Mullah Omar

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, SEPT. 28. A Pakistan delegation of religious scholars (ulema) accompanied by the chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had a meeting today with the Taliban supremo, Mullah Omar, at Kandahar in what is seen as a last-ditch attempt to convince him to relent to the U.S. demand of handing over the Saudi dissident, Osama bin Laden, and his associates.

There are indications that the team has not been able to persuade Mullah Omar to change his mind and it was on its way back.

The Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman, Mr. Riaz Mohammad Khan, emphasised that the ISI chief's decision to go to Kandahar did not mean that the Government had anything to do with the initiative.

``Though the Pakistan Government has nothing to do with the mission, all I can say is that the very fact that the ISI chief is accompanying the `ulema' is important. As someone who had led the first delegation last week he is fully conversant with the Pakistani position.''

Mr. Khan said the ISI chief was not carrying any message on behalf of the Musharraf Government. ``The ISI chief during his last week had handed over a letter from Gen. Musharraf to the Taliban leader urging him to understand the gravity of the situation and respond to the call of the international community,'' he said.

It was entirely up to the `ulema' to decide on the subjects they wished to take up with the Taliban leadership. He, however, did concede that the Government had facilitated the travel of the `ulema'. Clearly the mission had the tacit approval of the military Government though it was not sponsored by it.

It appears that the Musharraf Government tried to rope in the four leading religious personalities who have been in the forefront of the opposition to the Government's decision to side with the U.S. in its fight against Osama and the Taliban.

They are Maulana Samiul Haq, Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani, and Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Maulana Fazlur Rehman. These leaders are expected to visit Kandahar in the next few days.

After the leaders of the Council for the Defence of Afghanistan refused to be part of the delegation, the Government appears to have succeeded in enlisting the services of other religious leaders to visit Kandahar.

Diplomatic and political observers in Islamabad were of the view that the failure of the `ulema' to convince Mullah Omar could provide an opportunity to Pakistan to snap its ties with the Taliban.

To a question on the Pakistan position on the U.S. demand, Mr. Khan said Islamabad had been urging the Taliban to hand over Osama as per the resolutions of the U.N. Security Council.

``The U.N. Security Council had adopted a resolution twice seeking the handing over of Osama to appropriate authorities where cases have been registered against him. It is not dependent on production of evidence. Like the rest of the world the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has articulated the view that the U.S. should share the evidence about involvement of Osama and his associates in the terror attacks on U.S. cities'', Mr. Khan said.

`Search on for Osama'

In another development, according to a CNN report, special forces of the U.S. and the U.K. are already inside Afghanistan searching for Osama.

Mr. Khan, however, said he had no knowledge about any active engagement of U.S., U.K. forces inside Afghanistan.

The Pakistan Minister in-charge of Refugees, Mr. Abbas Sarfaraz Khan, said he had an unprecedented meeting with Ambassadors of 50 countries in a bid to mobilise support to take care of the refugee problem.

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