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| January 3, 2002 | Thursday | Shawwal 18, 1422 |
Al Qaeda men’s presence detected
KOHAT, Jan 2: A team of army interrogators have found a strong evidence of the presence of Al Qaeda men and their terrorist network in Pakistan in the light of the revelations made by majority of the 139 Arab detainees at central prison here, Dawn learnt reliably on Wednesday.
The interior ministry is mulling a plan to launch a crackdown against Al Qaeda members hiding in the tribal territory in the North West Frontier Province, Balochistan and some settled areas of the country in the light of the preliminary reports compiled by the investigators.
The source said that there was a plenty of evidence available now with the intelligence agencies that some of these elements had entered Pakistan recently fleeing the US bombardment and others had been here for decades since the early days of the Russian war in Afghanistan.
Replying to a question, the source said, that Pakistan had to fulfil its commitment with the international coalition for weeding out terrorism from the world now. He said that at that time the Arabs, US and some European countries were supporting them in cash and material to defeat Russia.
The source said that the operating terrorists camps inside Pakistan, which had been confirmed now, could face trial under the anti-terrorist laws.
He said that the Al Qaeda members who had crossed over from Afghanistan recently might be handed over to the US but those who had been operating inside Pakistan would be tried here.
The investigation team will complete its task sometime next week and submit its findings to the higher authorities for sharing the information with the coalition.
He said that the defence and interior ministry, which were under a strong obligation to the commitment reached with the coalition against terror, had asked the governors of the four provinces, specially the heads of the NWFP and Balochistan to launch a hunt for Al Qaeda men.
The NWFP government had already taken up the issue with the tribal elders from Kurram, Orakzai, North Waziristan and South Waziristan agencies in the southern part and Mohmand and Bajaur and Khyber in the North to cooperate with the government in netting the terrorists.
The tribal elders had been given a stern warning that if any one of them was found involved in protecting the foreign terrorists they would be punished and fined heavily.
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