ISLAMABAD, July 12: Pakistan will deport all militants of foreign origin to their respective countries if they voluntarily surrendered themselves to the authorities.
This was stated by President Gen Pervez Musharraf, in his televised address to the nation, to all those militants who have been dissolved in Pakistani cities and tribal areas in the wake of the US-led anti-terrorism operations in Afghanistan.
President Musharraf, besides calling upon these militants to turn themselves over, also reaffirmed his government’s resolve to track down all those who have gone underground. “No responsible government will allow this,” he added.
The government, he said, knew for sure that these Al Qaeda members had been hiding in the cities and towns across Pakistan.
The president, who devoted the first part of his address to the law and order situation in the country, refuted reports of large scale involvement of US troops in the anti- terrorist operations in the tribal areas of the NWFP and Balochistan.
Not more than a dozen US experts were assisting Pakistani troops and Frontier Constabulary in intelligence and information gathering, and communications, he said.
The president, appreciating the efforts of Pakistani troops and Frontier Constabulary, said that the remote tribal areas, where no one had gone for the last 100 years, were now opening up.
He said these operations against foreign elements were being carried out with the concurrence of tribal elders.
He pointed out that the government had already provided Rs1 billion to the governor of the NWFP for the development of tribal areas. He said that in the next three to four years two to three billions rupees would be given for social development of these neglected areas.
As regard to the foreign elements he said, they had been brought here and trained by the “West” during the war against Soviet Union. Now the same people had an agenda which was in conflict with the agenda of Pakistan.
