September 14, 2002	Saturday	Rajab 6, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 13: Pakistan on Friday dismissed reports that individuals detained in Sicily on charges of terrorism are Pakistani nationals and conveyed its concern to the Italian government over making allegations without investigating the matter.

“Claims that the detained individuals are Pakistani nationals and are linked with Al Qaeda are unfortunate and premature,” a Foreign Office spokesman said here in a statement.

The spokesman said the Italian interior ministry approached Pakistan’s embassy in Rome on Aug 20 to verify travel documents and identity cards of 15 individuals.

“On Sept 10, after confirmation from the authorities concerned in Pakistan, the embassy informed the Italian government that the documents were false and had not been issued by the Pakistan government,” the spokesman said.

Pakistan has also asked the Italian ministry for consular access to determine the nationality of the individuals in custody, which has not been provided so far, he said.

“The Pakistan embassy in Rome has conveyed Pakistan’s concern to the Italian government for making allegations before thoroughly investigating the matter, despite the fact that the government had informed them that the documents were false,” the spokesman said.

A similar demarche was also made to Italian embassy in Islamabad, he added.

ROME EMBASSY:In Rome, Pakistan embassy dismissed as a publicity stunt the arrest by Italian police of 15 men, said to be Pakistanis, on charges of conspiracy to commit acts of terror.

“I think they have gone completely overboard,” Qasim Muttaqi, Pakistan’s consular affairs counsellor, told Reuters.

“I get the impression that the Italian police want to be associated with a big bust against terrorism...but it appears to be more of a publicity stunt.”

Pakistan says there is no evidence the men are Pakistanis as they were travelling on false documents.

At the news conference, regional police chief Santi Giuffre said security forces had found evidence including phone numbers, documents, codewords and codenames which they believed linked the men to Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network.

But police sources later played down how clear-cut the evidence was and Giuffre on Friday was more circumspect.

US navy official Samuel Worth, who attended Thursday’s news conference, said one of the decoded phrases investigators found disconcerting translated as “to unite in marriage”.

“We are alarmed because it’s a word that was intercepted during the first attack on the Twin Towers in 1993,” he said. “It was one of the elements that induced us to intervene.”

Worth on Friday was unavailable for comment on the remarks from the Pakistani embassy, referring calls to the US embassy in Rome. US embassy officials too were unavailable for comment.

Since the attacks on the United States, Italy has tried be at the forefront of the fight against terrorism after US authorities indicated that a mosque and Islamic centre in Milan might be the financial hub of Al Qaeda’s European operation.

Some 40 arrests have been made over the last 12 months, but prosecutors have had only mixed success in winning convictions against suspected Al Qaeda members.

Four Tunisians, suspected of being al Qaeda members, were jailed earlier this year for five years in Italy’s first conviction of terrorist suspects since Sept 11.

But a group of Moroccans arrested on suspicion of plotting to poison Rome’s water network with a potentially lethal chemical compound were later freed.

The 15 alleged Pakistanis arrived in southern Sicily on a merchant ship last month and were originally held in a centre for illegal immigrants.

But illegal immigrants can only be detained for 30 days, which meant if police wanted to hold the men longer, they had to charge them.

Muttaqi from the Pakistan embassy said he believed the police had little evidence against the men.

“They had nothing on them on August 8 and I think they’ve got very little on them now.”—Agencies