Pakistani Authorities Say They Will Not Allow Religious Activists Join Taliban

Pakistani authorities would not allow religious parties' activists cross the border with Afghanistan and join the Taliban, said Pakistani Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider. According to Haider, the on-going developments in Afghanistan are this country's "domestic affairs." He emphasized that authorities would not allow Pakistani citizens to participate in the forthcoming "land" war of the Taliban against Americans and their allies. According to Haider, "the authorities maintain full control over the situation." At the same time, according to the PPI news agency, several fundamentalist parties have started enlisting volunteers to fight against the anti-Taliban coalition. Saeed-ur-Rehman, one of the leaders of the Jamiatul-Ulema-e Islam party said Sunday in Rawalpindi that his party was not engaged in enlisting volunteers, however, "a lot of young people organize, by their own initiative, enlisting of Mujaheddin in mosques to join the jihad against America." According to Rehman, Pakistanis are eager to give blood and donate money to "help their Afghan brothers." Rehman also said a civil war might start in Pakistan if Islamabad continued its pro-American policy.