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Pakistani President could face an uprising 19/9/01
It was a day on which increasingly
divided and worried Pakistanis waited
to see whether their President's televised
address would help to unify the country,
or make those divisions and the dangers
all the more acute. In the capital,
Islamabad, police were massed on the
approach roads to the US embassy. And
there were more guards outside the
Afghan embassy. Pakistan is one of
only three countries that recognises the
Taliban rulers. Filming here was not
Is the ambassador here at the moment?
It seemed the ambassador was back in
Kabul. Over in the Afghan capital,
hundreds of Muslim clerics met today for
surely the most crucial meeting in the
history of the Taliban - to decide whether
to hand over Osama bin Laden, or suffer
the onslaught that could surely follow a
refusal. A final answer was expected today,
but thus far there has been none. So
Pakistan's immediate future depends on
events over the mountains in Afghanistan.
The histories of the two countries have
long been interlinked, and involved a
changeable relationship with the United
States, which once used Pakistan to
channel aid to fighters in Afghanistan,
including Osama bin Laden. One man
who helped channel US funds to Afghanistan,
back in the days when the Afghan Mujahideen
fighters were the good guys, driving the
Russians from their country, is the former
head of Pakistani intelligence, General
Hameed Gul. Today he warned the US of the
dangers of a military expedition into the area
he knows so well.
GENERAL HAMEED GUL
(former Head, Pakistan Intelligence Service):
If you know Afghans, they love fighting, they
enjoy it. They may be looking at it as an
opportunity. Hundreds of thousands of young
Afghans who have nothing - there are no jobs
for them, and fighting is a damn good job.
They love it. They have loved it over the ages.
It is said of Afghans that they are at peace only
when they are at war. They will unite. This is
one advantage they will get.
Even the Northern Alliance will join?
Oh yes. Absolutely. I have no doubt
whatsoever. Let there be no illusion in
anybody's mind - all Afghans will join.
The US then will have achieved the impossible
by actually ending the civil war in Afghanistan?
Yes. Ironically, this is what the effect will be.
Secondly, they would love to capture the
American equipment. They will be looking for,
knowing their psyche, oh my God, how they
would love the new American toys, because
they are fed up now looking at the Russian
armaments. They would be waiting, the young
men will be waiting. "Let the Americans come.
One day they will go and we will keep their
weapons." They love weapons. Of course there
is no income for Afghanistan right now. They
would be looking for the American soldiers
whom they can take as prisoners of war and
exchange them for a lot of dollars.
The Taliban may claim to be confident they
can withstand a US-led attack, but many
Afghans are clearly not. Large numbers of
would-be refugees are already on the move,
with several thousand already reported to be
camped out along the main border crossings
to Pakistan. All of which presents yet
another problem for Pakistan. There are
already over three million Afghan refugees
here, just over half of them living in the
squalid refugee camps in cities around
Peshawar. Some have fled from the Taliban.
Others support the Taliban and have
pledged to join an uprising if the US
attacks Afghanistan with Pakistani support.
The minister responsible warned that there
would have to be restrictions on the
expected flood of refugees, unless Pakistan
ABBAS SAFRAZ KHAN
(Minister for Kashmir and Frontier Territories):
We will, if necessary, at some stage in the
future, re-evaluate our position. As of this
moment in time, we feel that only those
people with valid visas will be permitted
entry from the Afghan border site.
The border regions and Afghan bazaars
around the Peshawar camp provide the
Taliban with a useful source of revenue.
Duty-free goods are shipped to
Afghanistan under the Afghan transit trade
agreement, then re-appear at a cut price back
in Pakistan. The Taliban take a cut. It seems
there are no plans to stop such border trade.
At this point in time, I think it would be
very cruel to try and force a nation - after
all, you must understand, there are 22
million people who live within Afghanistan,
who are living on the very edges of poverty.
The Taliban comprise just the government
of it. We are looking at the broad masses
that are there. Our responsibility must lie
to those 20, 21 million people as well.
The border is a volatile area. In Peshawar
today there was yet another demonstration
against Pakistani support for any US-led
campaign against Afghanistan. American
flags were burned. It is not just those with
close links to Afghanistan who are critical
of the government. General Gul, the former
intelligence chief, says Pakistan should
demand proof of bin Laden's involvement.
Their demand is, one, bring proof and try
him here. We will try him. If we don't try
him, a sharia court can be set up, an
international sharia court, on Afghan soil. If
that is not acceptable, then move him to
some third country where he could be tried
under the sharia court. I think in that there
is a ray of hope. In other words, they are
suggesting that since Osama is originally a
citizen of Saudi Arabia, that his citizenship
should be restored, he should be taken away,
guarantees should be given that he will not
be handed over to the Americans. And
because the law of the land in Saudi Arabia
is sharia law. Nowhere else has it except
Sudan. In Pakistan it is not sharia law. When
they say "in a third country, under sharia
law", what they imply perhaps is that he
should be moved to Saudi Arabia.
Tonight a spectacular storm shook Islamabad.
Rain and lightning led to car smashes on the
highway, just as President Musharraf was
about to address the nation. We joined a
group in a tea shop outside Islamabad,
watching as their president explained how
the US wanted help on intelligence, quoted
from the Koran and warned how a wrong
decision could imperil the country's future.
He had a warning to his many critics.
"Show unity and common sense. Some
people are taking personal agendas and
party agendas. They are hurting the country."
It was an impressive speech, but had he
calmed the country? Opinion here was still
divided. Meanwhile Pakistan awaits the
Taliban decision, just as the first ever
pictures of the secretive Taliban leader,
Mullah Mohammad Omar, have emerged in
London. He was photographed secretly
during a Newsnight assignment in
Afghanistan five years ago, holding a relic
at a rally in Kandahar. The picture has never
been shown before.