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Pakistan deporting 89 Arab aid workers
10/06/2001
By KATHY GANNON PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistan's military regime ordered 89 Arab and other
Muslims working for Islamic relief agencies deported, government and
intelligence officials said Saturday. The order appeared aimed at severing possible links to Osama bin Laden's
al-Qaida terrorist network in nearby Afghanistan. U.S. and other Western
agencies have alleged that bin Laden's network uses some Islamic charities to
channel money to terrorist cells. A letter from the federal interior ministry, shown to The Associated Press by
local officials, listed the individuals to be deported by name and
nationalities. Most of them were from Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Egypt and Iraq.
The others were from Jordan, Somalia, Morocco, Algeria, Syria and Indonesia.
All were working in Pakistan's Northwestern Frontier province along the border
with Afghanistan. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the letter directed
provincial administration to deport the 89 immediately. However, provincial authorities refused to implement the order immediately
and instead established a committee to investigate those on the list. The committee was expected to complete its report in about two days,
Pakistani officials said on condition of anonymity. However, the officials said
many Arabs living in area have already left. The order comes amid increasing speculation of an imminent attack on
Afghanistan by the United States and its allies to try to flush out Osama bin
Laden, the key suspect in the Sept. 11 airborne assaults on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon. Pakistan became a front-line state in Washington's war on terrorism when the
military regime here promised its ``unstinting'' cooperation. Pakistan is the only country that still recognizes Afghanistan's Taliban
government and most importantly one of the few countries with strong
intelligence information on the whereabouts of bin Laden's al-Qaida training
camps. An emergency meeting of Islamic charities, headquartered in Peshawar and
operating in Afghanistan, was held behind closed doors in Peshawar earlier
Saturday. The meeting held behind closed doors. At the Sudan-based Islamic Relief Agency (ISRA) several, Bashir Ahmed,
administrator, said four of the five Sudanese working for the organization have
already returned to Sudan with their families. ``Everybody was being harassed,'' he said, without specifying by whom. ``Some
had been here for two years, others for one year.'' The letter sent from the federal government identified the following
organizations: the Saudi Red Crescent, the Kuwait based Lajnat al-D'awa
Al-Islamiah, International Islamic Relief Organization, Islamic Relief Agency
(ISRA), Kuwait Red Crescent, Islamic coordination Council and Kuwait Red
Crescent. There was no indication of any wrongdoing by any of these organizations.
Last week President Bush froze the assets of a number of organizations and
individuals believed to be financing bin Laden's global terrorist network. On that list were two Pakistani-based organizations, Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen, a
Kashmiri militant group and Al Rashid Trust, an Islamic charity that heavily
backs the Taliban regime. So far no reason for the order has been given and the Arab employees of the
charities refused to comment when contacted. An interior ministry spokesman said an investigation is being conducted into
the credentials of all international aid workers operating in Pakistan.
``We are not discriminating against Arabs and non-Arabs,'' said Abdul Rashid,
a spokesman for the interior ministry. ``All foreigners present in Pakistan are
having their documents verified.''
Associated Press Writer