The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sunday, September 30, 2001, Chandigarh, India

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Taliban removes Pak markings on weapons
Rajeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 29
The Taliban regime of Afghanistan is currently busy in an exercise on war-footing, on instructions from Pakistan, to repaint the Pakistani military hardware to create an impression that this hardware came from other than Pakistani sources.

Well-placed sources here told The Tribune on Saturday evening that this exercise was yet another demonstration of close relations between Pakistan and the Taliban regime and how Pakistan had been running with the hare and hunting with the hounds since September 11 terror attacks on the USA.

Internationally renowned experts on Pakistan have already cautioned that the USA should take with a pinch of salt the Pakistani promises of support for US-led attacks on Afghanistan and have warned that Islamabad was going to mislead Washington.

Pakistan’s military hardware worth scores of crores of rupees is currently stuck in Afghanistan and since the September 11 developments has been a major source of worry for the Pakistani establishment. This hardware has Pakistani markings.

Military hardware like tanks, trucks, artillery and radars can be a tell-tale evidence before the entire world of the proximity between Pakistan and the Taliban. Such a fear has never been there since the five-year-long rule of the Taliban as Afghanistan is virtually a iron-curtain country, totally cut off from the rest of the world.

It is impossible for Pakistan to either airlift its hardware or bring it back by road.

The sources said this highly sensitive issue was on top of the agenda of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt-Gen Mahmood Ahmad who made two public visits to Afghanistan since the September 11 crisis.

It is no secret that Pakistan army soldiers, both serving and retired, have been fighting against Northern Alliance alongside the Taliban for years. These troops, which included about one thousand Pakistan army regulars, had to be withdrawn in the post-September 11 situation.

Mullah Omar’s secretariat shifted to Kandahar?

New Delhi, September 29
Afghanistan’s supreme leader Mullah Omar has reportedly shifted almost his entire decision-making body from Kabul to Kandahar and is directing the day-to-day administration from a secretariat there, reliable sources said today.

The sources said Mullah Omar, who is not given to much public life, operates from a secretariat which for all practical purposes had emerged as the top decision-making body in Afghanistan.

Those who call the shots in the “Amir-ul-Momineen’s’’ secretariat include two or three secretaries who control Mullah Omar’s correspondence, engagements, issue of decrees and his decision-making during the present crisis.

Subservient to the secretariat is the government set-up in Kabul which comprises a Council of Ministers (Riasat ul Wuzara) and the higher judiciary, both of which are directly responsible to Mullah Omar.

The Council of Ministers is headed by a ‘Rais’ and functions under the overall supervision of two assistants — one for financial affairs and another for administrative affairs. There are also about 20 ministries, each with a minister and two or three assistant ministers and a number of ‘Loye Riyasats’ (secondary ministries).

“Riasat-i-Idara-i-Umoor” is a body which coordinates between Mullah Omar’s secretariat, the Council of Ministers and the field departments. It vets and conveys to the secretariat all the developments.

The sources, however, could not say when was the decision-making body shifted to Kandahar but said some small officials in Kandahar wielded more power than those in Kabul. Even collections in terms of ‘ushr’, land revenue and toll fees end up in Kandahar.

The sources said Mullah Omar’s decision-making process had always remained shrouded in mystery. They described Mullah Omar as a man “without charisma and not experienced in political matters.’’

The sources said Osama bin Laden, who was very close to Mullah Omar, made a dramatic public appearance in Kandahar in February at his son Mohammed’s wedding. The event was even filmed by Al-Jazeera television channel. UNI

They prayed, smiled & killed

Washington, September 29
The September 11 hijackers had step-by-step instructions to pray, smile and kill while earning a life in paradise for “a job which is loved by God.”

Four handwritten pages of fervent prayer and directions for everything from what to wear (tight clothes) to the last words to utter (“There is no God but God”) were found in the suitcase of one of the hijackers, Mohamed Atta, who boarded an American airlines flight that smashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center.

Photocopies of the document, written in Arabic, also were found in a car of a suspected hijacker on the flight that crashed into the Pentagon and in the wreckage of a United Airlines flight that crashed in Pennsylvania.

Attorney-General John Ashcroft called the writings on lined paper “a disturbing and shocking view into the mindset of these terrorists.” He said the document, released yesterday, also was clear evidence linking the hijackers.

Officials said only preliminary translations had been completed and they were not prepared to release an English version.

A rough translation by the Associated Press showed instructions divided into three sections for “the night before” the trip to the airport and the boarding of the plane each group of hijackers would eventually commandeer.

The instructions ranged from the practical to the spiritual.

Check your weapon and tidy up your clothes the night before, the document said.

“Be happy, because the distance between this life and your joyful new life is short,” said one passage.

In the taxi to the airport, the document advised the hijackers, “don’t be nervous. Look cheerful and satisfied.”

“You’re doing a job which is loved by God, and you will end your day in heavens where you will join the virgins,” it said.

The document contains numerous prayers and poetic verses.

Mr Ashcroft said those references were “a stark reminder of how these hijackers grossly perverted the Islamic faith to justify their terrorist acts.”

Many passages seem to address the hijackers’ fears and contain prayers of fortification and endurance. Over and over the hijackers are promised an afterlife in heaven.

In the final section, instructions are given for the final moments:

“Open your chest welcoming death in the path of God and utter your prayer seconds before you go to your target.”

“Let your last words be, there is no God but God and Mohammad is His messenger. Then, inshallah, you will be in heavens.”

Authorities said they did not know exactly when the document was written or who the author was. AP