BBC
April 10, 2001
The exiled Islamic militant
Osama bin Laden, who is wanted on terrorism charges in the United States, has
called on the Muslim world to support the Taleban regime in Afghanistan.
The recorded statement by the
Saudi dissident was played to tens of thousands of Muslims who had gathered for
a rally near the Pakistani town of Peshawar. He told them that Afghanistan was
the only country in the world with a real Islamic system, and that all Muslims
should show loyalty to the Afghan Taleban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar. He also
urged the gathering to influence young people to go to Afghanistan for military
training.
Allegience
"Allah Almighty and you
should be witnesses that I, Osama bin Laden, am giving allegience to Mullah
Omar" he said. And he added: "The people [of Afghanistan] are waiting
for your decisions. Do not be afraid. Speak loudly and implement the Islamic
system".
The Taleban have been
sheltering Osama Bin Laden in defiance of demands by the US for his extradition
to face charges in connection with bomb attacks on US embassies in East Africa.
The military government of
Pakistan has denied showing favouritism towards Islamic groups by allowing the
huge three-day gathering, despite a ban on rallies. A government spokesman said
it was a purely religious gathering and these were permitted.
The three-day conference is
paying tribute to the Deoband School of Islam, which has inspired the
organisers of the gathering, Pakistan's Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam as well as the
Taleban in Afghanistan.
Islamic front
During the conference, Mullah
Omar attacked the United Nations as a Western tool and urged resistance from a
united Muslim front, state radio reported. "The infidel world is not
letting Muslims form a government of their own choice," he was quoted as
saying in a message to the conference. "They want to resist Jihad [holy
war] and destroy the Islamic system," he said. "Therefore, under the
present critical situation, Muslim unity is needed."
Organisers of the conference
pledged their support for Taleban and blamed Western conspiracies for discord
among Muslims.
Theological centre
The Deoband school is a
leading Islamic theological centre in north India which propagates a
puritanical and orthodox Islamic outlook and orders women to be veiled and men
to keep their beards untrimmed. Followers of the 143-year-old seminary arrived
from all over the Islamic world to attend the gathering.
Vendors boycotted American
products and sold posters depicting burning US and Israeli flags. "We want
to send the message that only Islam has the capability of bringing peace and
stability in the world. The West has failed," said conference organiser Mohammed
Rahim Haqqani.