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Politics : Clinton's Scandals: Is this corruption the worst ever? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DD™ who wrote (2929)	8/24/1998 4:34:00 PM
From: Les H	Respond to of 13994

Zealots exploit raids to incite anti-West fury By Colin Randall in Islamabad PAKISTAN remained tense and confused yesterday as Muslim extremists continued to exploit the American missile attack on terrorist bases in neighbouring Afghanistan to incite anti-Western feeling. Foreign Office security advisers have flown to Islamabad to consider what further steps are needed to protect British interests. Citizens with United Kingdom passports have been urged to postpone non-essential trips to Pakistan or, if already in sensitive areas close to the Afghan border, to leave as soon as it is safe to travel. American officials too have called for heightened vigilance. Even before last week's show of military strength they were assessing a "flood of threats" received since the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. According to one report, the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, whose camps were the target of the air strikes in Afghanistan, has offered a œ10,000 reward for any American killed in Pakistan. The claim appeared in the Karachi-based newspaper Ummat, published the day before the missiles were launched. The paper broke news of the arrest of Mohammed Sadiq Howaidah, the embassy bombings suspect, so the Americans are "not totally dismissive" of the report. The air strikes have provoked an inevitably violent reaction in Afghanistan, including the murder of an Italian United Nations observer, who died after being shot on Friday. Most if not all the British aide workers in the country - along with Irish and New Zealand citizens, whose interests too are monitored by the British High Commission in Islamabad - have now left. Justin Cockerell, one of two Swiss International Red Cross workers who have chosen to stay in Jalalabad, told The Telegraph by satellite telephone that they had been given "certain guarantees" about their safety by the ruling Taliban militia. Mr Cockerell, who is involved in health projects, said: "I cannot say we are able to get out of our delegation very much and we are keeping a very low profile. But we are continuing our work without major impediment. I would not stay if I did not feel safe." In Pakistan there is concern that bitterness and division caused by the American attacks could destabilise a country caught in a dilemma between economic necessity and the need to show solidarity with fellow Muslims. Deeply in debt, Pakistan has a steep International Monetary Fund loan repayment to meet next month and may look to Washington for support. Hopes have risen recently that America may soon lift or ease the economic sanctions imposed over Pakistan's nuclear adventures. Cynics in Islamabad speculated that these factors might help to explain the relatively restrained criticism of the American action. Islamabad insists that it gave no co-operation to the Americans, even though the missiles passed through Pakistani air space. But a diplomatic source with close knowledge of Washington thinking said: "This is a moderate Islamic state. The air strikes were politically controversial and create pressures, but from our experience Pakistan's instincts are with the West and against terrorism." An illustration of those pressures is the extraordinary affair of the non-existent stray missile. The prime minister has sacked his intelligence chief, Manzoor Ahmed, and demoted Rustam Shah Mohmand, chief secretary for the North-West Frontier Province, for providing "wrong information". Marcus Warren in Moscow writes: Vakha Arsanov, the vice-president of the rebel republic of Chechnya, has called on Muslims to take "decisive action against all Americans" in revenge for the missile strikes, proclaiming President Clinton "terrorist number one". His remarks reflect the religious radicalism abroad in Russia's north Caucasus. Even before the air strikes, tensions were high in Chechnya and Dagestan, where the conservative Wahabbi sect has a wide following. The spiritual leader of Dagestan's Muslims, an outspoken opponent of the Wahabbis, was killed by a bomb as he left Friday prayers in the capital, Makhachkala.