Islamabad :A Pakistani delegation headed by the Chief of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt. Gen. Mehmood Ahmed is in Kandahar to try and persuade the Taliban militia in Afghanistan to hand over Osama bin Laden within 72 hours or risk facing US strikes.The move is being read as a last ditch effort by Pakistan to persuade the Taliban leadership not to sacrifice 25 million people for the sake of one person.

Pakistan is one of three countries that recognizes the Taliban regime, but the Taliban has threatened to break off friendly relations if Pakistan lends its cooperation in any attack against Afghanistan. Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has convened an emergency meeting of Islamic scholars to decide about the demand to hand over bin Laden. Omar however is likely to issue a fatwa asking Muslims to launch jehad.

Mohammed Sohal Shaheen, deputy head of the Taliban mission to Pakistan, said, "If the Americans use Pakistani territory against Afghanistan without any evidence and proof, and the Pakistani government allows them, that would of course be a kind of disloyalty and infidelity and an end of friendly relations."Pakistan has apparently already begun complying with the US conditions and has stopped all trade with Afghanistan, except food. It has also stared sending additional police personnel to the Northwest Frontier Province to try and confine the Afghan refugees to camps within the province.

Afghanis line up to flee country

In Afghanistan, the Taliban's call to its people not to flee and instead fight a holy war with the US and its allies seems to be falling on deaf ears. For thousands of frightened Afghans, all roads lead only in one direction -- out of their country to what they hope will be a safe haven far away from the reach of US guns and missiles.

The refugee camps across the border in Pakistan are already bursting with more than two million Afghanis and the line of people pouring in is seemingly unending. But with the increased security threat, it’s the departure of foreign aid workers like the Red Cross that will be felt the maximum by the war-torn nation, where even the most basic services have broken down in years of civil war.

"The authorities passed on the information through radio and the media that all foreigners should leave the country because of security reasons. Everybody is pulling out. It is a major humanitarian catastrophe for Afghanistan," said Robert Monin, head of ICRC.As the US gears up to avenge the terrorist strikes last week which left more than 5,000 people dead, the ordinary Afghan has once again become a helpless victim in the harsh political arena.

Pak’s terms

 CNN has reported that Pakistan was insisting on US retiring its $30 billion debt in return for cooperation. Interestingly the visit to Kabul has been announced after a frantic second categorical denial by bin Laden himself. The fugitive, whom Taliban claims to have been stripped of all phone, fax, e-mail and other communication facilities, reportedly faxed a statement to the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) in Peshawar to deny his involvement as well as swearing his faith in the Taliban regime.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar has said support to the US would not include Pakistani participation in a multinational force should there be an invasion of Afghanistan. He said, “Pakistan does not expect in any way to participate in any military operation outside its borders.''

Musharraf may visit China

There are conflicting reports on whether Pakistan's President General Musharraf will be visiting China today. According to the Dawn, the President has cancelled his visit after he received support from the Chinese leadership on his stand on curbing international terrorism. However, the Chinese news agency Xinhua has reported that the President could still leave for Beijing. China is one of Pakistan's closest allies.

Garnering domestic support

 Under tremendous domestic pressure, President Pervez Musharraf held a meeting with Pakistan's Islamic clerics on Sunday to get their support for Islamabad's help to the US against Afghanistan. He assured them that he would take decisions keeping in mind the national interests and called for a unified national response to deal with the situation.

Referring to the precarious situation in which Pakistan was placed where it could end up in the frontlines of the US and international community's war against the Taliban, Musharraf said, "We are alive to the gravity of the situation and know that in the lives of the nations such situations do arise and require important decisions." His remarks follow a warning by the Taliban that it would retaliate very strongly against any neighbouring state that facilitated US attacks against it.Reports say that while a majority of the country's political and religious leaders came out in support of General Musharraf, hardliners have completely opposed any help to the US and want solid evidence of bin Laden's involvement in the attacks first.

Political sources say most of the opposition is coming from fundamentalist leaders including Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed and pro-Taliban leaders Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Maulana Samiul Haq, who head separate factions of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam.The hardline leaders warned of grave consequences if Pakistan sided with US military operations against Afghanistan.

Anti-America sentiment

Demonstrators in Pakistan reportedly burned US flags, shouted slogans in support of bin laden."If Afghanistan is attacked we will take part in the fight against America," shouted militant Muslim leader Abdul Ahad to an estimated 1,000 demonstrators in northwest Pakistan, near the Afghan border."We are against this. Carry out a complete investigation and if you have some proof, then take action. If America will take hasty action it will be creating a problem for itself," said a Pakistani student.Stocks in Pakistan have also been plunging since last week's attack on the US, amid fears that the United States may launch retaliatory attacks on Afghanistan. On Sunday, Pakistan decided to shut down all three of its stock exchanges in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad for three days, starting Monday.