Pak. for broadbased govt. in Afghanistan

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, OCT. 4. Pakistan is for ``conciliation and a broadbased government'' in Afghanistan, its Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mr. Riaz Mohammad Khan, told a news conference today, on the eve of the ``working visit'' of the British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair. ``We are for conciliation and a broadbased government... This has been our position for some time. We have been working with the U.N. and the OIC towards this goal.''

Reiterating that the Taliban embassy in Islamabad was playing a significant role, Mr. Khan said it was acting as a window to the world and, as of now, Pakistan had no intention of reconsidering its relations with Kabul.

There was no surprise element in Mr. Khan's disclosure on the nature of the evidence provided by Washington against the Saudi fugitive, Osama bin Laden. (He told presspersons earlier that Islamabad was satisfied that there was ``sufficient'' basis for Osama's indictment in the September 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon).

The Pakistan Foreign Minister, Mr. Abdul Sattar, in an interview to the CNN on Wednesday had said that the U.S. had presented an `impressive evidence' of Osama's involvement and wanted the Bush administration to publicise it all over the world to enable people make a fair judgment.

He said Pakistan had been shown 20 pages of documents besides being given an oral presentation. He was sure the people would be impressed by the good work done by the U.S. in a short time after the attacks.

`Pak. will not sit in judgment'

``The U.S. should be confident that it has impressive evidence but Pakistan will not sit in judgment... We are hesitant to pronounce a judgment,'' he said. When told that some people who had been shown some parts of the leaked evidence had rejected it as fabricated, Mr. Sattar said these people were in a small minority and had pre-conceived ideas. ``They have already made up their minds and they will not accept any evidence.''

However, the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, appeared unmoved by the signals of Pakistan's shift from over five years of support.

``I have been to Pakistan only once, that too to seek medical treatment for my injuries sustained during the `jehad' (holy war) against the Soviet occupation troops. Ours is an indigenous movement,'' he said on the State-controlled radio.

In a related development, the Northern Alliance Foreign Minister, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, claimed that they were receiving fresh military support from Russia and Iran in their campaign against the Taliban and revealed for the first time that they were talking to the United States.

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Section  : International
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