November 3, 2003	Monday	Ramazan 7, 1424

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WASHINGTON, Nov 2: There are no Taliban in Quetta and the allegations made in a Washington Post editorial were “highly speculative” and “based on mere hearsay,” the Pakistan Embassy said on Sunday.

Commenting on the editorial, Pakistan’s deputy chief of mission, Mohammed Sadiq, said it is based on “unsubstantiated remarks” and was “far-fetched from the truth.”

Saturday’s editorial in the Post, titled “Haven for the Taliban,” claimed that Taliban fighters were “freely operating” in Quetta and were even recruiting new volunteers for their cause.

“Pakistan’s commitment to the fight against terrorism is unreserved and total, and it is committed to root out terrorism from the region,” Mr Sadiq said.

Since Sept 11, 2001, he said, Pakistan had arrested more than 500 suspected members of Al Qaeda network and handed them over to US authorities.

He said Pakistani troops were engaging the remnants of the defunct Taliban regime and Al Qaeda network in the tribal areas and chasing them out.

He said recently several Pakistani soldiers were killed in clashes with the supporters of the Taliban and Al Qaeda network along the Pakistan-Afghan border and in the tribal belt.

The Pakistan-Afghan border, he said, was “porous” but it was incorrect to say that Taliban fighters were present South of the border between the two countries.

He said the Taliban could not enter Quetta as it was far from the border and fully guarded by Pakistani troops. Similarly, he said, Pakistani troops would never allow foreign fighters to enter their territory and therefore it was wrong to say that the Taliban were entering Pakistan from the Kandahar border.

“Such claims serve no other purpose than casting aspersions, and indulging in unsubstantiated whispers, based on mere propaganda,” he said.