ISLAMABAD (Islamweb & News Agency) - Pakistan is to send a team of officials to Afghanistan on Monday to press the ruling Taliban to hand over Saudi-born fugitive Osama bin Laden and help prevent a potential catastrophe in the region.``We are alive to the gravity of the situation and know that in the lives of nations such situations do arise as require taking of important decisions,'' President Pervez Musharraf told a meeting of newspaper editors.(Read photo caption below)
The delegation would fly to the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, base of Mullah Mohammad Omar, the spiritual leader of the Taliban, and the town that has been the refuge, at least until recently, of Islamic militant bin Laden.
In New York, Pakistan's chief United Nations envoy formally requested permission to fly to Kandahar from a Security Council committee headed by Colombian Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso.
``He said yes,'' Ambassador Shamshad Ahmad told Reuters. The Security Council has imposed a flight and arms ban on Afghanistan.
The mission coincides with an urgent war council of Islamic leaders called in Kabul by Omar, who so far has refused to consider giving up bin Laden, the prime suspect in last Tuesday's devastating terror attacks on New York and Washington.
``The Pakistan government is leaning on the Taliban government to hand over Osama to save this entire region from catastrophe,'' said Najam Sethi, editor of the Friday Times, who attended Musharraf's briefing.
``I am not sure whether there is much chance of that happening, but the pressure is on from the Pakistan government,'' he said.
CNN said Pakistan would give the Taliban an ultimatum to hand over the 44-year-old multi-millionaire within three days. A spokesman for Musharraf said he had no knowledge of a deadline.
Pakistan is one of only three countries to recognize the Taliban government, and was a key backer of the purist Islamic movement as it swept to power in the mid-1990s, taking most of the country and ending two decades of civil war.
PHONE CONVERSATION WITH BUSH
In off-the-record briefings, the military leader revealed details of a phone conversation with President Bush Saturday, saying Bush appeared likely to look to Pakistan for logistical support in prosecuting the first war of the 21st century
His comment was reported by a source familiar with the content of the meeting who declined to be identified.
Pakistan's president said the United States could base its troops either in Pakistan or neighboring Afghanistan, but added he had no concrete details, the source said.In addition, he said it was possible U.S. ships would want access to Pakistan's coast to reach landlocked Afghanistan, a request Islamabad would be able to meet, the source said.
Pakistan could not afford to be left out of an action that could produce a new power structure in Afghanistan, which has been locked in civil war for more than 20 years, the source quoted Musharraf as telling his visitors.
``Pakistan is compelled to be there,'' the source quoted Musharraf as saying.
Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in October 1998, has still not fully consolidated his grip on the country and has to juggle carefully the interests of various political and religious groups -- whom he also met Sunday.
``The president is aware that whatever he is going to do will create some problems for Pakistan and he may see a reaction from the general public,'' said Hamid Meer, editor of Aussas (Foundation) newspaper.
``But he is not a coward by any measure,'' said the Times' Sethi. ``He is a very strong-willed man and he came across as such today. He was very clear in his mind that there was no choice and this was the right thing to do.''
ENDORSE MUSHARRAF POSITION
All newspaper editors and religious leaders said they had endorsed Musharraf's position.
The United States has vowed to punish those responsible for Tuesday's attacks -- in which more than 5,000 people may have been killed -- and also any country that harbors them.
But bin Laden, who has lived for years in Afghanistan as a ''guest'' of the Taliban, again Sunday denied any involvement.
``I have taken an oath of allegiance (to the Taliban leader) which does not allow me to do such things from Afghanistan,'' he said in a statement faxed by an aide to the Afghan Islamic Press.
Although Pakistan has yet to spell out in detail what assistance it will give Washington, the United States says Islamabad has promised full cooperation after requests for access to its airspace, sealing off the border with Afghanistan, cutting fuel supplies and sharing intelligence.
PHOTO CAPTION:
A Pakistani protester holds a placard during a demonstration in Islamabad September 16, 2001, while other protesters pray. Pakistan is to send a team of officials to Afghanistan to press the ruling Taliban to hand over Saudi-born fugitive Osama bin Laden and help prevent a potential catastrophe in the region. (Zahid Hussein/Reuters)