Author: Vijay Dutt
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: November 29, 2003
URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_476956,00050003.htm
One of the world's most hunted and
wanted man Mullah Mohammad Omar, the supreme leader of the ousted Taliban
regime in Afghanistan, was spotted last week in the Pakistan border city
of Quetta. The Afghan President Hamid Karzai told this to the Times. He
accused Pakistan of turning a blind eye to terrorism in its border region.
Karzai urged President Musharraf
to stop hardline Islamist groups from providing sanctuary and support for
those responsible for the resurgence in violence in Afghanistan that has
left more than 400 people dead in the last four months. Karzai asserted:
"We have received information that Mullah Omar was seen praying in a mosque
in Quetta ten days ago." He identified the mosque as one near Quetta's
Salim plaza.
Mullah Omar comes after Osama bin
Laden and Saddam Hussein as the man American-led coalition forces would
most like to capture. He has a £14.5 million bounty on his head.
Karzai confirmed that Quetta has
become a stronghold of terrorists. Mullah Omar is alleged to have re-organised
the command structure of a resurgent Taliban movement. It has been increasingly
mounting cross-border attacks on US forces since the summer. A BBC reporter
shot a documentary of how terrorists sneak into a desert town near Pakistan
border and after shooting at the army post run back into Pakistan.
Karzai said Pakistan Government
should take immediate action particularly against clerics, who were openly
recruiting volunteers from madarssas in Baluchistan and North West provinces.
"The recruitment is being carried with the connivance of the local authorities,"
he said.
