The Hindu : Musharraf vows to act strongly against Al-Qaeda

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 28, 2004

International

International

Musharraf vows to act strongly against Al-Qaeda

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, MARCH 27. The Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, has said that the Al-Qaeda was behind the recent assassination attempts on him as well as most of the terrorist attacks in Pakistan and vowed to eliminate the outfit from the soil of Pakistan.

Speaking at a function of the military academy in Punjab province today, Gen. Musharraf said that the Government would not be cowed down by threats from Al-Qaeda and was determined to eliminate the threat of terrorism.

In his fiercest attack on the Al-Qaeda, Gen. Musharraf charged it with orchestrating terror strikes not only in Pakistan but also in neighbouring Afghanistan. "We would act and act strongly," (against the Al-Qaeda) he declared.

Gen. Musharraf's comments on Al-Qaeda came a day after Ayman al-Zawahiri, deputy to Osama bin Laden, made a call to the Pakistan military, through an audio tape, to revolt against leadership of Pakistan. Islamabad dismissed the call as absurd and dubbed it a cheap attempt to sow seeds of divisions within the country.

Referring to the military operations against the Al-Qaeda in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, Gen. Musharraf said that foreigners had no business to be present on the soil of Pakistan. He talked about various terror acts of the Al-Qaeda and said no sovereign country could allow it to go unchallenged.

Taking a dig at the religious and Opposition parties that are agitated about the operations in the tribal areas, Gen. Musharraf maintained that they had nothing to do with Islam. "It is not a Muslim or non-Muslim issue. It is a simple case of terrorism and we are determined to eliminate it."

Gen. Musharraf said that the acts of the cadres of the Al-Qaeda were damaging Pakistan and it was the duty of the Government to protect the interests of the country.

Soldiers' execution `inhuman'

AFP reports:

Pakistan's military today described as inhuman the point-blank shooting of eight soldiers deployed in its largest operation yet against the Al-Qaeda militants and promised a ``thought-out'' response.

The bodies of the eight men were found in a ditch yesterday around 8 km from the site of a March 22 ambush by militants on a military convoy which left 12 soldiers dead and 20 others wounded.

The recovery of the bodies pushed to 62 the military death toll in the 12-day campaign against the Al-Qaeda militants and their tribal supporters in South Waziristan province. Some 7,500 troops have been battling hundreds of Al-Qaeda suspects and their local supporters since March 16.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's military declared today it had accomplished its mission in the 12-day bloody offensive against a major Al-Qaeda hideout, but stopped short of conceding that the operation was over.

``We have achieved our target; we have destroyed and dismantled the terrorists' sanctuary,'' Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan told AFP. He would not declare the operation over.

Asked if the ``high-value target'', mentioned by Gen. Musharraf at the start of the operation, had escaped, the official said, ``The possibility of someone slipping away cannot be ruled out.''

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