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Pak gives Taleban 3 days to turn Osama in

A six-member Pakistan team of senior officials would extend its visit to Afghanistan by another day in a bid to convince the ruling Taleban of the danger it faced from possible retaliatory strikes by the United States, a report on Monday quoting General Rashid Qureshi, spokesman for President Pervez Musharraf, said.

Earlier, the team, headed by Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lieutenant General Mehmood Ahmed, held talks with the Taleban in Kandahar in an attempt to persuade Afghanistan's ruling militia to surrender international terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, the Afghan Islamic Press reported.

Senior military intelligence chiefs and foreign ministry officials met Taleban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakel in the southern city where Laden owned a house and spent much of his time, the Pakistan-based AIP said.

Later, they called on Mullah Mohammed Omar, spiritual head of the Taleban and were closeted with him for almost three hours.

The delegation was believed to have given the Taleban a three-day deadline to hand Laden over to the 'international community'. Some reports said the delegation had urged the Taleban to turn Laden over to a 'third country'. But AIP said no details of the talks were released.

Reports in the Pakistani media, quoting officials in Islamabad on Monday, said Pakistan had decided to make a last-ditch effort by sending the delegation to persuade the Taleban leadership not to sacrifice 25 million people for the sake of one man.

The visit coincided with the emergency meeting of Islamic scholars convened by Mullah Omar to discuss the demand to hand over Laden.

Omar is likely to issue a fatwa (edict) asking Muslims to launch a jihad (holy war) against the US, reports from Kabul suggested.

The Pakistani delegation included Aziz Khan, additional foreign secretary, who had previously served as Islamabad's ambassador to Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Pakistani and Taleban forces took up positions at the border at Torakam as tension grew following war-like preparations on both sides. The Taleban had threatened to attack any neighbouring Muslim country if it assisted the US in attacking Afghanistan.

The Taleban border guards had installed 12.7mm anti-aircraft guns close to the border, almost near the main gates of the checkpoint.

Pakistan's paramilitary forces, the Khyber Rifles, had also taken up positions.

PTI

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