Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting of Islamic clerics and scholars convened by the Taliban in Kandahar in Afghanistan to decide on the fate of Osama bin Laden, the militia has set a few conditions for extradition of the Saudi fugitive that include lifting of UN sanctions against the war-ravaged country.
The conditions set by Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar were communicated to the visiting Pakistani delegation led by ISI chief Lt Gen Mehmood Ahmad in Kandahar on Monday.
The other conditions include trial of bin Laden in a neutral country, stopping of military support to Northern Alliance opposition and resumption of international economic aid to Afghanistan, daily ‘The Nation' reported on Tuesday. Two of the six-member delegation, which went to Kandahar on Monday as a last ditch efforts to get Taliban to extradite bin Laden, returned to Islamabad on Monday night for consultations, the report said.
At least two members of the Pakistan delegation arrived back in Islamabad with new proposals, which were being discussed with Washington, it said.
However, officials did not confirm the report. “We will not be saying anything until they are back,” the daily quoted spokesman of the foreign office Riaz Mohammad Khan as saying.
The members of the delegation who returned were ISI deputy director of ISI Maj Gen Faiz Gilani, additional secretary of the foreign office Aziz Khan, it said adding that they were expected to leave this morning with a set of replies.
Meanwhile, a large gathering of Islamic scholars and clerics has been called by Omar to discuss the issue of extradition on Tuesday.
Bureau Report