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Held-up goods released without charge

Accord reached on ATT resumption

MEHMUD AHMED

ISLAMABAD: The chief of the ruling Taliban council, Mulla Mohammad Rabbani, has said that agreement on the resumption of Afghan transit trade through Pakistan was reached at the conferences held here on Tuesday and all Afghan goods held up at Karachi port will thus be released "without any charges".

Rabbani said that he had discussed with the Pakistani leaders various other issues including Western objections against the stay in his country of Osama bin Ladin, and explained the point of view of his administration to them.

The Afghan leader, who was on a short visit to Pakistan, made these disclosures at a news conference held here at a hotel here at the end of his official visit. He and his entourage of nearly 20 Taliban leaders, seven of them cabinet ministers, would return via Peshawar on Wednesday morning.

He said the talks were held in a friendly and cordial atmosphere and both sides appreciated each other's point of view. Pakistan, he said, was a brotherly Muslim country and Afghanistan wanted to strengthen its relations with it.

Mulla Rabbani said there will be stricter monitoring of the Afghan transit goods to ensure the facility was not abused. It was in "our interest also" to ensure that the facility was not misused," he added.

The Afghan leader, who had a lengthy meeting with Chief Executive Gen Musharraf, and later, accompanied by his ministers, had a conference with Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar and his aides, said the two sides had also discussed matters relating to the Afghan refugees in Pakistan and also those about the Pakistani and Afghan prisoners in each other's jails.

He said it was decided to release all those who were held for minor offences.

The two sides also discussed the question of terrorism, and Rabbani said his administration abhorred it, and it was decided to extend closer cooperation to curb any such activities.

Terrorism, he added, was against Islamic way of life and it was an act against "our faith and we reject it". He said Taliban would not allow their land to be used for terrorism, inside Afghanistan or anywhere abroad.

About Osama bin Ladin, he said that the issue was raised at the meetings with Pakistani leaders but added that his country "is an independent country" and had the right to take "independent actions".

The Taliban leader said the issue had cropped up on several occasions in the past also, and his government had always asked the US officials to supply definite evidence against Osama for investigation and presentation to the Afghan supreme court.

Secondly, he said, Taliban had suggested a meeting by the Islamic scholars to consider those charges and also the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) should be asked to supervise the movements and activities of the Saudi dissident. So far, none of these activities had been accepted by the Americans, he added.

He said terrorism was against the basic principles of his country. They would not allow anyone to indulge in such activities from Afghanistan and hence had cautioned Osama bin Ladin.

Mulla Rabbani said the Taliban wanted to resolve this problem (Osama's) but it could only be done though negotiations and not by sanctions or threats.

He confirmed that Taliban had divested Osama of "means of communication" because he was being accused by his opponents of nefarious activities. "So we also asked him to be very careful" about his activities and movements.

He told an Iranian journalist that his administration was still investigating the murders of Iranian diplomats in Mazar-e-Sharif, and added that relations between his country and Iran had moved further as the officials of the two countries had been visiting the other country, and the border trade had been resumed.

He said that Pakistan had proposed to make efforts for reconciliation with the Northern Alliance, and the Taliban had reciprocated the suggestion as "we had always wanted to resolve the causes of the conflict".