- ISLAMABAD (ANI) -- American
forces will not be allowed to use Pakistani territory for launching any
attack on Iraq, reports Dawn.
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- Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said after a
cabinet meeting on Tuesday: "We are with the international community
against terrorism but that does not mean that our soil could be used for
attack on a third country".
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- Asked about the reaction of the religious parties in
case the Bush Administration decided to launch an attack on Iraq, he said
the government was well aware of the issue. "Nothing has so far happened
about attack on Iraq. Therefore, the government cannot give its reaction",
But he said the government knew how to deal with protest rallies of the
religious parties.
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- The minister also claimed that not a single Pakistani
had been handed over to the US during the last one year.
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- However, he said the US government will continue using
various bases in Pakistan to hunt down Al Qaeda terrorists.
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- "There is no change in the policy and the US government
will continue to have necessary logistic support in defined areas to chase
Al Qaeda men", Rashid added.
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- He said that there were only 12 US men belonging to CIA
or FBI in Pakistan who were supervising the operation against Al Qaede
terrorists in tribal areas.
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- Meanwhile, The News has learnt that the FBI officials
once again interfered in Pakistan internal affair's apparently on the pretext
of providing 'technical assistance' to local investigators, as they visited
and collected material evidence from the honorary Consulate of Macedonia
where a blast took place during the night between December 3 and 4.
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- While the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Asad Ashraf
Malik denied any visit of FBI agents to the site of the blast, well-informed
sources disclosed that on Tuesday the FBI personnel and bomb disposal experts
of Pakistan Navy visited the offices of Macedonian Consulate to examine
the scene of crime and the crater. The FBI teams remained there for at
least four hours.
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- The sources close to the investigations said that after
thoroughly examining the blast after-effects, the officials were convinced
that the terrorists used dynamite strips for the blast.
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- Before arrival of the FBI team, sources said, the streets
leading to the Consulate were blocked by the law-enforcement agencies owing
to security reasons. According to sources, FBI agents accompanied by the
local investigators, collected samples of the debris from the scene and
took the pieces with them for laboratory tests.
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- Sources said the team of FBI also visited the Consulate
office on Monday but the police officials kept their visit secret.
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- A senior investigator said: "We have associated
some 10 persons in the investigations including some of the already arrested
accused booked in the US Consulate or other bomb blast cases. But so far
we could not find any concrete evidence leading to a clue to the persons
or group behind the attack."
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