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| India-Pakistan |
| Bin Laden Seems Alive, Not in Pakistan: Perv |
| 2003-03-08 |
| Pakistani and U.S. forces were searching for Al-Qaeda members on Friday in a mountainous area near the borders with Afghanistan and Iran amid persistent reports that Osama bin Laden could be in the vicinity. Residents in the remote region said leaflets were dropped there on Thursday offering rewards for the capture of Bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda leaders. Seems a prudent thing to do... President Pervez Musharraf said Bin Laden seemed to be alive but added he was unlikely to be in Pakistan, where suspected September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested last weekend. "Nope. Nope. Couldn't be here. Khalid wasn't, either." Officers of Pakistan's Paramilitary Frontier Corps told Reuters Pakistani forces had launched an operation on Thursday, involving a few Americans, in pursuit of Al-Qaeda suspects in the Ribat region, where the borders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran meet. But, Pakistani and U.S. officials rejected reports that a new operation was under way specifically targeting Bin Laden. Guess they're not getting their hopes up... The arrest of Mohammed raised hopes that interrogators could get leads on the location of the world's most-wanted man, who has evaded U.S. forces since a U.S. bombing campaign against Al-Qaeda and Taleban forces in Afghanistan in late 2001. U.S. officials said this week they believed Bin Laden was hiding in the rugged tribal borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Musharraf told CNN in an interview broadcast on Friday Pakistani intelligence agencies were active all over the country tracking down any leads they could get, including in border areas with Afghanistan. But he said Bin Laden could not be in Pakistan. "He wouldn't be hiding alone or with one person...he seems to be alive," he said. "He would be moving with a large number of bodyguards. He can't be in Pakistan." Either that, or he's in Fazl's guest house, writing a fatwah and chuckling, while everyone scurries around looking for him. Like Khalid was... A Pakistani Frontier Corps officer said the operation in Ribat involved "lots of Pakistanis and very few Americans". Colonel Roger King, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, said U.S. forces based in that country were not involved in any major new operation on the Pakistani border. "We are performing our normal duties, regular patrols, but nothing, there is no special big operation along the border." |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |