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Osama a Pretext for Attack: Omar
Thursday, September 20, 2001

PESHAWAR, Pakistan
Mulla Muhammad Omar on Wednesday accused Washington of being arrogant and indifferent on the issue of Osama bin Laden and urged ulema to issue a fatwa to counter a possible US strike on Afghanistan.

"We have repeatedly assured the United States that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and Osama were not involved in past incidents (of terrorism). Unfortunately, however, the United States turned down our argument and kept talking with arrogance," the Taliban supreme leader said in his message to a congregation of over one thousand ulema, cabinet ministers and government officials.

The shura meeting which took place at the bombed-out, heavily guarded Arg (Presidential Palace) began at 10.00 am (Afghanistan Time) and lasted until 1.00 pm in the afternoon. The Taliban later distributed a questionnaire amongst the shura participants who are expected to come up with answers and announce a decree on Thursday.

"We appeal to the American government to stay calm, gather complete information and find the actual culprits. We assure the whole world that neither Osama nor anyone else can use the Afghan soil against anyone else. But despite all this, America wants to use force and attack Afghanistan...and destroy the Islamic Emirate. We seek your guidance and a fatwa (decree) on the issue in the light of Islamic Shariah," Omar said in his message to ulema read out by education minister, Mulla Amir Khan Muttaqi.

It was evident from Mulla Omar's message that he was seeking a fatwa on a possible US attack on Afghanistan rather than seeking a solution to the issue of Osama ben Laden, whom the US believes is a prime suspect in the Sept 11 terrorist strikes in Washington and New York.

Over six hundred ulema, twenty each from the thirty-one provinces of Afghanistan, are attending the shura meeting. An eyewitness to the proceedings said that going by the mood of the participants, the ulema were likely to issue a fatwa declaring Jihad against the United States in the event of an attack on Afghanistan.

Leader of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, Maulana Samiul Haq told a news conference in Islamabad that ulema in Pakistan would follow the decree issued by their comrades-in-faith in Afghanistan.

Mulla Omar said the Islamic system (in Afghanistan) rankled in the heart of the enemies of Islam and Afghanistan and wanted to finish it on one pretext or the other. The presence of Osama ben Laden, he said, was one such pretext.
(More: Daily Dawn News Source)

Dan