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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (44120)	5/1/2003 11:23:55 AM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

Pakistani Ruler Says Bin Laden Appears to Be Alive ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said Thursday there were indications that Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) was alive, and he might be hiding in tribal territory on the Pakistani-Afghan border. Musharraf told the London-based Pakistani satellite channel ARY that it was possible bin Laden could be with a small group of bodyguards, hiding on the Pakistani or Afghan side of the remote area. "Some indications are there that he is not dead but where is he? Nothing can be said about that," Musharraf said in an interview with the television channel. A copy of the interview, to be broadcast in part Thursday, was obtained by Reuters. Musharraf said it was possible that bin Laden, who in the past traveled with a large number of bodyguards, could have given that up in view of the intense hunt for him in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and opted for a smaller group. "If they are in a small group, two, four, eight or 10 people, then they can hide in this side, our side of the tribal area, or hide on the Afghan side. I cannot say with surety," he said. Many of the ethnic Pasthun people in the semi-autonomous tribal zone bordering Afghanistan supported the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan that gave bin Laden sanctuary for years. The Taliban were ousted in a U.S.-backed offensive in late 2001, launched in response to the Sept. 11 attack on the United States, blamed on bin Laden's al Qaeda. Musharraf was speaking a day after Pakistan announced it had arrested Waleed Muhammad Bin Attash, alias Khalid Al-Attash, suspected of involvement in the October 2000 attack on the U.S. warship Cole in Yemen. A U.S. intelligence official said Al-Attash was close to bin Laden and was considered to be in his inner circle. He was once one of bin Laden's bodyguards. Pakistan has been a key ally of the United States in its war against terror, launched after the Sept. 11 attacks.