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Pak says no information
on Osama's whereabouts

K J M Varma in Islamabad

Pakistan on Wednesday said it has no information on the whereabouts of Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden and members of his Al Qaeda network.

"We do not have any information about him (Laden) or about leaders of Al Qaeda," Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Raiz Mohammad Khan told reporters.

Asked whether supporters of bin Laden might have entered Pakistan posing as refugees or sneaking through the 2500 km porous border with Afghanistan, he said it is unlikely that they would have crossed over to Pakistan.

"I do not think they will be confident of finding a safe haven in Pakistan," he said.

Declining to comment on Taleban's claim that bin Laden was missing, Khan said: "It is not for our government to ascertain the veracity" (of the claim). They (the Taleban) know what the world is asking them to do. We conveyed what the world is asking from them," he said.

He refused to react to media reports that differences had cropped up between Pakistan and United States in formulating a joint strategy for a military campaign to get bin Laden extradited from Afghanistan.

"I do not comment on speculative reports. There are no joint operations or contingency plans placed before Pakistan government yet. So the report is hypothetical," he said.

Asked about the outcome of the deliberations between a high-powered US military delegation and Pakistan military officials over the strategy to be adopted in Afghanistan, Khan said: "They are still here. They are meeting their counterparts."

Khan expressed Pakistan government's support for the formation of a broad-based government in Kabul to end the civil strife in Afghanistan.

Reacting to queries relating to Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar's warning to foreign powers not to foist any government in Kabul, he said what Sattar meant was that no government can be foisted on Afghanistan. "This was the essence of his comments."

Meanwhile, Pakistan on Wednesday said that though it supported the international coalition against terrorism it would never join any 'hostile action' against Afghanistan.

"Pakistan cannot, and can never join any hostile action against Afghanistan or Afghan people," Foreign Office spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan said.

He was replying to a question on whether any US-Pakistan joint military was in the offing against Afghanistan, where the prime suspect in this month's terror strikes in America, Osama bin Laden, is reportedly hiding.

PTI

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