China invites Musharraf for SCO summit

ISLAMABAD, Mar 13 (UNI): China has invited Pakistan PresidentPervez Musharraf to attend the sixth Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, scheduled to take place at Shanghai inthe middle of June.

Chinese President Hu Jintao has sent a formal letter to President Musharraf inviting him to attend the SCO sumit, the APP said in a dispatch from Beijing.

"We will be glad to receive President Musharraf at the summit," it quoted a senior Chinese official as saying yesterday.

Pakistan will be participating in the summit as an observer.

Referring to Pakistan's full membership in the organisation, the official said the matter was discussed during the recent meeting between the two leaders in Beijing last month.

The SCO's Secretary-General Zhang Deguang also held "a very useful meeting" with President Musharraf, he said, adding both sides exchanged views on ways to develop cooperation between Pakistan and the SCO.

In an interview, the SCO's Secretary-General said all member states of the organisation attached great importance to Pakistan and wished to develop closer interaction in areas of common interest.

There was a large space and good prospects for cooperation between the two sides, he added.

Zhang said he looked forward to having a follow-up meeting with President Musharraf at the Shanghai summit.

When asked to comment on Pakistan's desire to become a full member of the SCO, Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesman Liu Jianchao said China would convey Pakistan's desire to all SCO member states.

The SCO pursues an open principle in absorbing new members, Liu said, adding that the member states are now discussing to determine the status of the four observer countries so as to better promote the cooperation within the organisation framework.

"We need consensus in accepting new members," he said.

Pakistan's Ambassador to China Salman Bashir said Islamabad wished to become an active member of the SCO to tackle common probleand promoting its socio-economic goals.

Pakistan, he assured would provide strong support to the SCO to become an effective instrument for promoting peace, stability and progress in the region.

Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Li Hui said the Shanghai summit would give a strong impetus to the all-round development of the SCO and further expand the organization's influence among the international community.

China currently holds the presidency and has begun preparations for the summit, said Li.

SCO is an inter-governmental organisation founded in Shanghai on June 15, 2001 by six countries, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

It has granted observer status to four states, including India, Pakistan, Iran and Mongolia.

Taliban's Omar orders execution of foreign hostages SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan, Mar 13 (Reuters): Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has ordered the execution of four foreigners, described as three Albanians and a German, kidnapped in southern Afghanistan, a Taliban spokesman said.

Omar's order was read by telephone late yesterday to a Reuters reporter at the border town of Spin Boldak, in Kandahar province.

"These people had come to Afghanistan at America's behest, therefore they should be sentenced to death," Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf quoted the order as saying.

Earlier yesterday, Yousuf had said four Albanians and four Afghans were being held.

But he later said the four Afghans, two of them drivers, had been released, and identified the foreigners as three Albanians and a German.

Afghan authorities could not say what the kidnap victihad been doing in Kandahar province.

A Taliban court would try the men as spies for the United States, Yousuf said.

In the past, the Taliban have labelled as US spies kidnapped employees of companies and non-government organisations involved in Afghanistan's reconstruction.

Authorities in Kandahar said a search was on for the kidnapped men, who had been travelling in two vehicles when they were held up at gunpoint.

US-led forces overthrew the Taliban government in late 2001, after its leadership refused to surrender Osama bin Laden following al Qaeda's September 11 attacks on the United States.

Since then the Taliban have been fighting to overthrow President Hamid Karzai's Western-backed government and to force out foreign troops.

The insurgents have killed several foreigners after kidnapping them, including a Briton involved in a road project who was found dead in September and an Indian killed in November.

Both men were killed within days of their abduction.