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Pakistan: No end in sight to war against terror: Kasuri

SYDNEY: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri yesterday said that while his country had done much to smash the Al Qaeda network and destroy other militant groups, an end to the war against terror was not in sight.

Pakistan, which borders war-ravaged Afghanistan and is believed to be home to Al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden, has been an ally of the United States in efforts to end terrorism since shortly after the September 11 attacks.

"For Pakistan, the first and foremost challenge is the threat of terrorism and its role as a frontline state in the war against terrorism," the minister said during a speech to a foreign policy think-tank in Sydney.

"Nobody knows where the war against terrorism will take us and therefore how it will end."

On Thursday, Kasuri said a top Al Qaeda operative arrested in Pakistan will not be handed over to the United States at present, while leaving open the possibility of a later transfer.

Pakistan this month arrested the alleged Al Qaeda number three Abu Faraj al-Libbi.

He is the alleged mastermind of two attempts on President Pervez Musharraf's life in December 2003, and a bid to assassinate Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz before he assumed office last year.

Asked at a press conference in Canberra if Al-Libbi would be handed over to the US, Kasuri said Pakistan had "a very strong vested interest" given the attempts on the president's life.

"But we've had a track record, Pakistan, of sharing intelligence with all our friends, and we have very strong links with United States," he said.

"So at the moment he's in the custody of the Pakistan government and until all issues are cleared, there's no question he's being handed over to anybody else," Kasuri added.

"But of course intelligence sharing, and after we have done with the intelligence I think this is for the Ministry of Interior, not for the Minister for Foreign Affairs to decide when and if he will be handed over to any other country."

While Pakistani authorities had apprehended and deported almost 600 suspected Al Qaeda operatives and affiliates, the Western world also needed to look to troublespots around the world to kill breeding grounds for terror and counter sentiment that Muslims received a raw deal in the current world order.

"We know very well that there is the feeling in the Islamic world that there is selectivity in the application of UN Security Council resolutions," he said.

Kasuri said Australia had faced indignation from the Muslim world when it led an intervention force in 1999 into East Timor, which had previously been controlled by the world's most populous Muslim nation Indonesia.

"Look at Indonesia, East Timor... I'm not going into the merits of it, but all over the Islamic world they said 'Oh here's a Christian minority, they want their rights, they are being given (them) by the UN'."

Kasuri reiterated the stance of President Pervez Musharraf, who has called on Muslim countries to conduct reforms to reduce the threat of terror and on the West to help resolve disputes justly so that terrorists are denied a breeding ground.

Kasuri, the first Pakistani foreign minister to visit since 1959, said ties between the nations were strong and Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Prime Minister John Howard would visit his country this year.

Downer on Thursday announced the two nations would sign an agreement to improve counter-terrorist co-operation when Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf visits next month.

"There are no irritants, as the diplomats like to say, within our relationship," Kasuri said.

"Pakistan and Australia both follow cricket very keenly," he added.

Australia has also been a staunch US ally and is deploying troops in Iraq.

Kasuri said while Iraq had been a divisive war around the world, there needed to be an emphasis on inclusive government in the country to stem the violence. - AFP

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