Islamic radicals warn against massacre

Islamic in Pakistan warned yesterday of a "strong reaction" if Pakistani militants were massacred in the besieged city of Kunduz, the Taliban's last stronghold in northern Afghanistan.

"The United Nations and the government of Pakistan must do something for their rescue soon otherwise there will be a bloodbath in Kunduz," a top Muslim cleric, Mufti Nizamuddin Shamazai, said.

"If Pakistanis are massacred in Kunduz, there will be a strong reaction here against the military government, which they would not be able to control."

Earlier from Pakistan's religious right and pro-Taliban parties failed to elicit a widespread response from mainstream society here but the radical minority has been involved in a series of violent clashes with the security forces.

Shamazai's came amid reports of summary executions of captured Taliban fighters in other areas of Afghanistan since the dramatic withdrawal of the Islamic militia earlier this month.

Up 30,000 Taliban troops, including hardcore Pakistani, Arab, and Chechen fighters from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, are making a stand in northern Kunduz since the main Taliban forces fled the northern region.

They are surrounded by Northern Alliance forces and face daily poundings from US bombers.

There are reports of more than 1,000 killed since Saturday when local alliance commander Abdul Dayan said an ultimatum for the Taliban forces to surrender or die had expired.

Pakistan's pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) party said that 10,000 Pakistanis had gone to Afghanistan to fight with the militia, with an unknown number in Kunduz.

"The Pakistan government may not be able to control the reaction if thousands of Pakistanis are killed and their bodies arrive here," JUI spokesman Mufti Mohammad Jamil said.

Pakistan's fundamentalist party, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), said it would hold the government responsible for the killing of Pakistanis in Kunduz.

"Our government would be equally responsible if Pakistanis are killed in Kunduz at the hands of the Northern Alliance or as a result of US bombings," JI deputy chief Ghafoor Ahmed said.

In efforts to avoid a massacre, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has appealed for US and British help to protect surrendering Taliban soldiers.

US Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has made clear his forces were unable to accept prisoners, and reiterated US opposition to a negotiated surrender that would allow foreign nationals fighting with the Taliban to walk free.

The UN has also turned down a plea by the trapped Kunduz fighters to mediate their surrender, saying it did not have the means on the ground in Afghanistan to get involved.

UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson said earlier this week that members of the anti-Taliban forces were responsible for alleged "summary executions."

"I have been getting reports from Kabul and elsewhere about summary executions of those who have laid down their arms," she said in New Delhi.

A UN spokesman said around 100 young Taliban recruits had died in a school in Mazar-i-Sharif the day after victorious Northern Alliance forces moved into the city on Nov. 9.

There have also been other, unconfirmed reports of mass executions in the city, which was the first major prize taken by the Northern Alliance in its stunning rout of the Taliban.

A US television report cited the possible existence of a mass grave in Herat, a rich trading city in western Afghanistan. But there has been no confirmation or elaboration.