ISDLAMABAD, July 12 (IslamOnline) - President Pervez Musharraf Friday offered to allow the Islamic fighters, who fled Afghanistan to Pakistan with the fall of Taliban government, now hiding in Pakistan, to return to their home countries.
In his televised speech to the Pakistani nation on Friday evening 12 July Musharraf said some foreign fighters were hiding in his country. "Those foreign fighters who surrender would be handed over to their respective governments" President said without elaborating.
General Musharraf in his speech did not mention Al Qaeda or Taliban organizations but labeled all of the Islamic militants as "foreign fighters" who fled Afghanistan to Pakistan with the fall of the Taliban government last year.
Musharraf also did not elaborate as to what would be the mechanism for returning these fighters as the United States government wants all of them to be interrogated and ultimately punished. Almost all of the Islamic fighters arrested or surrendered in Pakistan or Afghanistan have been kept in the detention centers at various locations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other unknown places.
President Pervez Musharraf however said that Pakistan would have nothing to do with these "foreign" fighters from Afghanistan and those who surrender would be returned to their countries.
In the last few weeks the Pakistan army and paramilitary forces have suffered heavy casualties in bloody clashes with these fighters in the tribal areas of the countries where most of these fleeing people have taken refuge. Almost 15 Pakistani forces were killed in these encounters resulting in increased domestic pressure on the government. The U.S. FBI is spearheading the search operation in Pakistani tribal areas.
But General Musharraf denied involvement of US troops in these operations. "People say U.S. troops are operating in the tribal areas.
This is absolutely wrong" he said. "There are around a dozen Americans and their job is to provide intelligence and communications. Besides them, the Pakistan army frontier corp. and intelligence services are operating there. I salute these agencies for operating in those areas for the first time in 100 years.
Pervez Musharraf did not show any sympathy for these fighters. "Who are these people? They are foreigners. These people are those who fought against the Soviets with the help of the West....with the help of U.S. money," Musharraf said. He announced complete disassociation with these fighters who once fought hand in hand with the Pakistani intelligence agencies in Afghanistan. "Now they have a different agenda. It is not Pakistan's agenda. Pakistan has its own problems.
We don't want to be part of their agenda."
