Islamists reject UN monitoring teams

Religious parties in Pakistan on Thursday issued a stern warning to the UN over its plans to deploy monitoring teams to check the flow of arms along the country’s border with Afghanistan. Calling the effort to monitor the embargo against the ruling Taliban as an unjust infringement of both countries’ sovereignty, the Afghan Defence Council (ADC), an alliance of 36 religious and jihad parties, including the main fundamentalist Jamaat-i-Islami, called on Islamabad to reject it. “If you put these teams in tribal areas, it will be problematic,” Liaquat Bloch, ADC’s chief coordinator in the western city of Lahore told IRIN. “These teams will be attacked, and the UN and US will blame Pakistan over the lack of security there,” he said. Last month, the UN Security Council unanimously agreed for a team of experts to be deployed to monitor the embargo. The weapons sanctions, imposed in January, aim to force the Taliban to surrender Saudi dissident Usama bin Ladin and to close alleged terrorist training camps. Bin Ladin is accused by the US of masterminding the bombings of two US embassies in East Africa in 1998. In November 1999, the Council also froze Taliban assets abroad and banned the national airline, Ariana, from international flights. Composed of a monitoring group of up to five experts in New York and a sanctions enforcement team of up to 15 members located in Afghanistan’s neighbouring states of Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and China, the group will monitor the implementation of all measures, including those related to arms embargoes, terrorism, money laundering and financial transactions related to the purchase of arms. But according to Bloch, such a move would be a clear violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty. “As both Pakistan and Afghanistan are sovereign nations, this is not just,” he said. “For many years, Britain tried to control Pakistan’s border, and Russia tried to control Afghanistan - it simply won’t work,” he said. Traditionally, the semi-autonomous tribal areas along the border have maintained good relations with the Taliban, making protection for the teams an arduous task, he said. “While we won’t attack these teams, the reality of the situation is that the placement of such monitoring teams will prove alarming,” he added. While Islamabad denies allegations that it is providing arms and supplies to the Taliban, the 2,500-km porous border between the two countries is difficult to monitor. As a UN member state, the government has agreed to comply with the arms embargo, but has openly criticised the sanctions as being one-sided. Only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates recognise the Taliban government, currently controlling 95 percent of Afghan territory. According to Bloch: “The Taliban is the representative government of the Afghan people, bringing peace to the nation after years of conflict and civil war.” He called on the UN and the US to recognise the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.