Exchange of information in Terror fighting [Archives:2005/901/Front Page]
SANA'A – Dec. 6 – President Musharaf of Pakistan has concluded a 3-day visit to the Republic of Yemen this Tuesday December 6th, during the visit several agreements were signed including an understanding memo on oil, gas and mineral exploration and production, as well as an agreement on vocational and educational training. There was also an understanding memo on air cargo transportation.
President Musharaf raised several points during the bilateral discussions such as the military training and supply however no final agreement was concluded. The security cooperation agreement also contained the exchange of information in the war against terrorism, organized crime and drugs manufacturing and trafficking.
However, the agreement signed was confined to security and intelligence issues, considering that there are sensitive elements of fundamentalist and terrorists who work clandestinely and are believed to receive funds from unidentified sources. Yet, it was not disclosed whether such funds are being provided from, or through, Yemen. President Musharaf only said that the two countries should coordinate their intelligence efforts to face this threat. He also confirmed that his country is willing to offer facilities for Yemeni students in Pakistan.
The Pakistani president is also seeking similar partnerships with Arab and Islamic countries in order to back his country's efforts into becoming a major regional power, in par with the larger Middle East project and normalization with Israel. These issues are likely to be strongly presented in the agenda of the extraordinary Islamic conference which was held in Mecca on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Pakistani president has also explained the motivations behind the deportation of several Yemeni students who were studying in several Islamic fundamentalist centers in Pakistan; he explained the harm that his country is suffering from Arabs who are affiliated with Al-Qaeda with forces garrisoned on the Pakistani-Afghani borders.
According to Altjamo' weekly, the Pakistani people are troubled by the continuous recruitment of Arabs including Yemenis to join or support Al-Qaeda. It is worth mentioning that over 32 thousand Afghan-Arabs had returned to Yemen in 1992-1994, with the consent of the Yemeni authorities, in order to support President Saleh in the 1994 civil war in Yemen.
However, more recently these groups started spreading back to Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq and selected locations. While other groups remained in the protection of Yemeni tribes until the 9/11 events, However, Yemen is trying to expel these groups out of the country as a part of its war against terror commitments.
President Musharaf also confirmed the Pakistani desire to strengthen the bilateral relations and the prospect of importing Yemeni commodities. He also discussed the prospects of defense cooperation between the two countries.
The agreement was signed while there are many Yemeni prisoners in Pakistan who were detained on alleged Al-Qaeda membership; it is believed that Yemeni Mujahideen used to cross the Pakistani borders into Afghanistan. However, the Pakistani authorities did not extradite any of the Yemeni terror suspects to Yemen and they were all extradited to the United States of America. On the other hand, there are three Pakistanis who are still in Sana'a Central Prison. One of them, called Abdurrahman, was sentenced to death after being charged with Hashish and drug trafficking. Abdulrhman appealed to the UN to put pressure on the Yemeni authorities not to carry out the death sentence. In his appeal, he clarified that he is a businessman and said that the charge against him was a fabrication. He claimed that the drugs were put in his house in order to cease his money.
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