From: Abe Rein (ARein@sorosny.org)
Date: Wed Apr 02 2003 - 14:50:51 EST
THREAT OF 'ARAB AFGHANS' REVIVED
"Arab Afghans," the volunteers who flocked from North Africa and the
Arab world to Afghanistan in the 1980s to participate in the anti-Soviet
jihad, are heading to Iraq to fight against American and British forces,
former Pakistani army chief General Aslam Beg said on 1 April, according
to Kyodo news agency. Beg claimed that "busloads of mujahedin" have left
Pakistan for Iraq in response to a fatwa from leaders of religious
groups. Meanwhile, Maulana Mohammad Zaman, a religious leader of the
Shakot tribal region bordering Afghanistan, told a crowd of some 500
people that the government should arrange for 10,000 local volunteers to
participate in "jihad against U.S. forces in Iraq," AFP reported on 1
April. The Pakistani government reportedly has refused to fulfill this
request. The Jamiat Ahl-Sunnat party said it will organize a convoy of
protestors to travel from Rawalpindi to Karachi, and 3,000 people
participated in a rally in Peshawar organized by the Awami National
Party (ANP). BS
|
