A Pakistani delegation Friday made a last-ditch attempt to persuade Afghanistan's ruling Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden after the Saudi-born militant reportedly vowed that his holy war with the United States would continue even if he is killed.
The delegation, composed mainly of Islamic clerics but also some Pakistani intelligence agents, was due to meet with the Taliban's supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in the militia's southern stronghold of Kandahar.
Their mission coincided with the publication in Pakistan of an interview with bin Laden in which he reportedly issued a fresh denial of any involvement in the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington for which he has been blamed by the United States.
"As a Muslim, I will not lie," bin Laden said in the interview with the Urdu-language Ummat daily, the veracity of which could not be confirmed.
The paper said it had received written responses to its questions from bin Laden through contacts with Taliban leaders.
"I was neither aware of these attacks, nor would I support killings of innocent men, women and children," bin Laden was quoted as saying.
He went on to add that jihad, or holy war, he declared in 1998 against "anti-Islamic" countries like the United States and Israel would survive his own death or capture.
"Jihad will continue even if I am not around," he said.
The Islamic clerics visiting Kandahar were due to meet Omar after Friday prayers. It was not clear if they were carrying any new proposals or simply reiterating previous Pakistani messages to the Taliban to hand over bin Laden or face the consequences alone.
Pakistan is the only country in the world which still recognizes the regime. The Taliban's isolation was underlined on Friday when it emerged that its former ally Saudi Arabia had agreed the United States could use its bases for military action against Afghanistan.
Among the clerics on the Pakistan delegation was Nizammudin Shamazia, head of one of the largest Islamic seminaries in Karachi and a former tutor of several Taliban leaders. He is believed to be very close to Omar.
"This is a last-ditch effort to try and find some mutually acceptable solution to the current crisis," a Pakistani source said.
The Taliban leadership have repeatedly defied US ultimatums to hand over bin Laden, who has been living as their "guest" in or around Kandahar since 1996.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has pledged "unstinted support" for the US-led war on terrorism, but his government is deeply concerned at the prospect of military action against its Taliban allies in Afghanistan.
Pakistan shares a 2,500-kilometer (1,500-mile) border with Afghanistan and houses more than two million Afghan refugees. It is feared hundreds of thousands of new refugees will try to cross the border in the event of a US attack.
Pro-Taliban parties called for another day of nationwide protests over Musharraf's stance on the crisis after prayers Friday but the response appeared to have been muted.
An earlier Pakistani delegation, led by the country's powerful intelligence chief, met with Omar in Kandahar last week and delivered a message from Musharraf urging the Taliban to "act with prudence because the life of the Afghan people is at stake."
A council of Afghan clerics voted last week to ask bin Laden to leave Afghanistan voluntarily.
After days of denying the Taliban were aware of the whereabouts of bin Laden, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, said Thursday that he believed bin Laden had received the message issued by the council of ulemas, or Islamic clerics -- KABUL(AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
