March 12, 2003	Wednesday	Muharram 8, 1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

WASHINGTON, March 11: Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States indicated on Tuesday that Pakistani security forces were closing in on Osama bin Laden and might catch him soon.

Speaking at an anti-terrorism forum in Washington on the recent arrest of a senior Al Qaeda operative, Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi said: “There are reasons to believe that hopefully in the future we might even have some bigger fish captured and we will get on top of this problem of terrorism as such.”

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the man Washington says planned the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, was captured last week in Rawalpindi.

Mr Qazi’s comments follow the arrest of another Al Qaeda suspect, Mr Masood, in Peshawar last week. Mr Masood, who is either an Afghan or an Egyptian, is believed to have told interrogators that he and Khalid Shaikh had been in contact with Osama bin Laden.

Mr Qazi told the forum at the George Washington University that Pakistan had taken “a major role in tracking down and arresting and handing over large numbers of suspects”. He said a total of 500 arrests had been made so far.

Twice, he said, Pakistan hoped to catch “bigger fish”, adding: “If there are such bigger fish in the pond within the area in which we operate they will certainly be captured because Pakistan is not a safe haven for any Al Qaeda or other terrorists.”

Officials in Washington said US Special Forces had joined the hunt for Osama bin Laden on the Pakistan-Afghan border and were working closely with the Pakistan military. But given Osama bin Laden’s success at eluding capture, the US officials have been anxious to play down reports that he is close to being caught.

President George W. Bush has been intensely frustrated by the failure to capture Osama bin Laden and no longer refers to him. The White House officials were quick to deny reports last week that Osama bin Laden’s sons had been captured.

Meanwhile, reports in the US media say that Khalid Shaikh was suffering from high fever during the three days of interrogation by a joint US-Pakistani team before being transferred to US custody at an undisclosed location.

During the first two days he was uncooperative but on the third day he started divulging information on his contacts inside and outside Pakistan, including a meeting with Osama bin Laden in December, the reports said.

On the basis of the interrogation and other evidence, investigators believed Osama bin Laden was alive.

Since Khalid Shaikh’s arrest a series of raids have netted 10 more suspects.