| Pakistani diplomat says 'don't attack Afghanistan' |
Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain has urged the US-led global coalition against terrorism not to launch a military assault against Afghanistan.
Abdel Kader Jaffer said Afghans "do not deserve" to be attacked.
And he said Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect for the terror attacks on the US, should be tried in an international court.
Mr Jaffer told BBC News 24: "What are you going to find in Afghanistan except dead bodies? Already, 1.5 million people have died in the last crisis against communism.
"They have already shouldered this. Today the world is against them. I don't think they deserve this at all.
"We must engage the Taliban again and again... they would like to have evidence."
Mr Jaffer said an international tribunal should be set up to investigate the claims against bin Laden, and stated: "What the Taliban is concerned about is whether he will receive a fair and just trial."
Referring to the US move to lift key sanctions imposed on Pakistan and India after the two nations tested nuclear weapons in 1998, he said: "Sanctions are something different, and I do not think it was connected to our support."
Asked about the possibility of further sanctions being lifted, he said the world realised the difficult internal security problems Pakistan now faced.
Mr Jaffer added: "We must find a permanent solution to eradicate terrorism from all countries."
Story filed: 16:08 Sunday 23rd September 2001
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