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

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (45750)	3/15/2004 5:44:45 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

Libyan was behind two assassination attempts on me: Musharraf (Updated at 1900 PST) PESHAWAR: President Pervez Musharraf on Monday said a Libyan Al-Qaeda militant was behind two attempts on his life last year and issued an ultimatum to foreign extremists hiding in Pakistan's northwestern tribal zone. Musharraf, who narrowly survived two assassination bids on December 13 and 25 last year, vowed the attacker would be captured and demanded the surrender of up to 600 foreigners holed up on Pakistani soil. "One Libyan was involved in the attacks on me," Musharraf told tribal leaders from Pakistan's border regions during a visit to the main northwestern city of Peshawar. "We have identified a network. They belong to Al-Qaeda. We will catch (the Libyan man) soon." Musharraf told the tribal leaders that up to 600 foreigners hiding in the tribal zone that hugs Pakistan's porous frontier with Afghanistan would be hunted down by troops, but would not handed to the United States as had most of some 500-plus Al-Qaeda suspects seized since late 2001. The tribal region is home to conservative Pashtun clans with strong anti-US sentiments and sympathies for Al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists who once controlled Afghanistan. They also have strong ethnic ties with the mainly Pashtun Taliban. "We know that there are some 500 to 600 foreigners present in FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas)," he said, in a thinly-veiled reference to Al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects. "We have given them the option that if they lay down their arms, we will not hand over them to any other country. "But if they have their own agenda against Americans or their own countries, then they should go to their countries and do what they like there and forgive us." Musharraf's comments came amid speculation that the United States is pressing war on terror ally Pakistan to allow the deployment of US forces on its territory for an intensified hunt for Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. Thousands of US troops on the Afghan side of the border have launched a fresh offensive to nab bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda leaders. Operation Mountain Storm, announced last Saturday, is targeting Afghanistan's south and southeast frontier near Pakistan. Pakistan says it has some 70,000 paramilitary troops securing the border to prevent militants sneaking over and has deployed several thousand extra regular army troops to hunt the fugitives. Musharraf repeated Pakistan's insistence that no US troops would be granted permission to conduct the hunt on Pakistani soil. "We will not allow any American soldiers to cross into Pakistan from Afghanistan," he said. "The operation against terrorists is being launched by our own forces with the help of local people."