September 20, 2002	Friday	Rajab 12, 1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: President Gen Pervez Musharraf has said that there is no threat to his life and he is performing his duties comfortably, without any fear.

“This is wrong to say that there is a threat to my life,” he said, adding that he always enjoyed visiting Karachi and moving in the city freely.

Talking to reporters here on Thursday, the president said he believed in God Almighty, the Protector of all. He said he had had dinners in Lal Qila and Zamzama restaurants in Karachi, which, he added, amply showed that there was no threat to his life as was often falsely said these days.

In reply to a question, Gen Musharraf denied that the recent operation in in Karachi in which Ramzi bin Al Shibh was also arrested had been conducted by the US forces like the CIA and the FBI.

“The whole operation was carried out by our police and other security agencies in which one of our men was also killed,” he said.

Earlier, Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider told reporters that 57 workers of Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi were being hunted by the police and security agencies with the help of some US agencies. “We have so far arrested 19 workers of this organization and hopefully, we will arrest others,” the minister said.

Asked whether it was Ramzi bin Al Shibh whom the police had arrested or somebody else, and how the government and its agencies came to know that he was the same person who was being chased, Mr Haider said: “We recognized him because of his photographs we had with us and with the help of other information about him. He is not a fake Ramzi as many people believed.”

Asked why the government was having the FBI/CIA cooperation if the operations against suspects were being conducted by the Pakistani agencies, the minister said that Pakistan was only seeking modern technology and other methods from foreign friends to do the job.

“We do not have the modern facilities like hotmail, internet and sophisticated phones for which we have to rely on Americans. But the rest of the operation is carried out by our own people,” the minister elaborated. Terrorist groups, he pointed out, were using highly sophisticated methods to conduct their operations.

In reply to a question, he said the law and order situation was relatively better and there was no need to deploy troops during the oncoming elections. He said that police and other agencies were satisfactorily performing their duties to ensure the law and order during the electioneering.