Evidence or otherwise, Taliban won't give him up

DUBAI, OCT. 4. An envoy of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban said in remarks published today that the movement would not hand over Osama Bin laden even if there was evidence to implicate him in last month's attacks on the United States.

Taliban's Ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, told the United Arab Emirates' al-Khaleej newspaper that the movement would ``thoroughly check'' the U.S. documents. ``We will not give Osama to the U.S. even if we are presented with evidence implicating him in the attacks,'' he told the Arabic-language daily.

``And if we get from them (the U.S.) such evidence, we will check it thoroughly and then we will conduct a trial in a Sharia court. If this court convicts him, we will see then what we will do.''

Mullah Zaeef's comments, which could not be immediately verified, were the first indication by Afghanistan's hardline Islamic rulers that they would not hand over Osama under any circumstances. The movement admits to hosting Osama, but has said it would give him up if presented with convincing evidence.

The Mullah said he still hoped for a ``peaceful resolution'' to the standoff between Washington and Kabul. ``Negotiations are the way to solve problems, war will only complicate things.''

The Taliban chief, Mullah Mohammad Omar, has said his regime was not a creation of Pakistan and their rejection of Islamabad's request to handover Osama to the U.S. showed that the militia did not take orders from anyone.

``Those accusing me of being Pakistan's creation didn't realise as to why the Pakistanis would ignore famous and powerful Mujahideen commanders and instead select an unknown mullah like me, hailing from the small village of Singesar, to lead the Taliban,'' he said in his address over Radio Kandahar on Wednesday night.

Pakistan's decision to change its Afghanistan policy by disassociating itself from Taliban in recent weeks was a vindication of his oft-repeated assertions that Taliban was not its creation. He appealed to Afghans to prevent America's efforts to overthrow his government and foist a new one headed by the former King, Zahir Shah.

- Reuters, PTI, DPA

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Section  : International
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