Posted on 03/15/2004 5:14:58 PM PST by blam
Musharraf to rein in militants
By Peter Foster, South Asia Correspondent
(Filed: 16/03/2004)
President Pervaiz Musharraf of Pakistan said yesterday that a Libyan al-Qa'eda terrorist was behind two attempts to assassinate him in December.
The claims, which Gen Musharraf said would be backed up by television interviews with the suspects, were accompanied by a renewed commitment to root out al-Qa'eda remnants in Pakistan's tribal areas.
"The man who organised the suicide attacks against me was from Libya and a member of al-Qa'eda," Gen Musharraf told a meeting of tribal elders in the north-western city of Peshawar. "He gave about two million rupees [£20,000] to a Pakistani who recruited Islamic extremists."
Gen Musharraf's remarks came less than 48 hours before Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, was due to visit Pakistan and will be seen as a statement of good intentions towards US efforts to suppress Taliban and al-Qa'eda militants in the region.
Gen Musharraf re-stated his commitment to rein in "foreign elements" with links to al-Qa'eda who are known to have been operating in the lawless tribal areas on the Afghan-Pakistan borders.
Some believe that Osama bin Laden may be hiding in the area.
Acknowledging for the first time the existence of between 500 to 600 of these foreigners, Gen Musharraf pledged to drive them out if they would not surrender.
"You give any name to them, al-Qa'eda or not, but I will say we will not allow these foreigners to stay in our tribal areas and create problems for us," he said.
In recent months Pakistan has committed up to 70,000 troops to the tribal areas in an attempt to curtail the activities of militants who receive shelter and sympathy from the semi-autonomous tribes.
Mr Powell's visit to Pakistan also coincides with a fresh spring offensive - Operation Mountain Storm - by US and Afghan forces in southern Afghanistan.
In a further indication of the risk posed from militants in Pakistan, Police reported that a large bomb inside a van had been defused outside the US consulate in the southern city of Karachi. It was not immediately clear who planted the device.
Sometimes a cautious hunch will suffice for immediate clarity.
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