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American Morning

Interview of Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistani Ambassador

Aired January 09, 2002 - 09:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Where is Osama bin Laden? It is the $25 million question. Many believe he has already fled to Pakistan, raising questions about whether the Pakistani government is doing all it can do to track him down. Pakistan's president assures the U.S. they are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN: Pakistan rejects terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and has fully cooperated with the international coalition against terrorism in that spirit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: President Musharraf is also promising to crack down on Islamic extremists. He does not believe, however, that Osama bin Laden is currently in Pakistan. With us now from Washington is Maleeha Lodhi who is Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S.

Good to have you with us this morning. Welcome.

MALEEHA LODHI, PAKISTAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Hi, Paula. Thank you.

ZAHN: Why is President Musharraf convinced that Osama bin Laden isn't in Pakistan? Right now, as you know, the interim head of the Afghanistan government has said that he is.

LODHI: Well, I think, frankly, nobody has definite information about where Osama bin Laden is, and I think it would be getting into the realm of speculation if we started to all get into a guessing game. But what is for sure is what the president has said -- the president of my country has said -- which is that we have, by our actions, demonstrated our commitment to fighting terrorism. We have apprehended hundreds, dozens of people who have tried to flee across the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan, and we certainly have all the means and the competence to bring to justice anybody who would be fleeing across the border into Pakistan.

ZAHN: So if Osama bin Laden has gone to your country -- fled to that country -- what assurances can you give the American public today that, in fact, the Pakistani government will pursue him vigorously? LODHI: Well, I think more important than words is our actions, the fact that my country and my government, through its actions in the last few weeks, months, has demonstrated that we have the means to apprehend people, any terrorists found on the soil of the territory of Pakistan can and will and has been apprehended and has been handed over for questioning and interrogation. As you know, hundreds of such people have already been apprehended.

I think that is the most powerful demonstrator rather than words that I can give you today. We want to be showing by our actions that we can do it.

ZAHN: I think that's a powerful point you made, and yet, there are some people who still feel that there are tribal leaders in your country that would be happy to host bin Laden and help hide him. What do you say to those skeptics?

LODHI: Well, you know, very little is known about the fact that tribesmen in our part of the northwest frontier province, which of course borders Afghanistan, have actually been very cooperative in our government's efforts to track people down and people escaping from Afghanistan. So actually this is a bit of a myth based, I think, on lack of knowledge that the tribesmen will not be cooperative. We've actually found that the tribesmen have been very cooperative.

ZAHN: Ambassador Lodhi, we're going to have to leave it there this morning because of some time constraints and running of a commercial break here, but we'd love to have you come back because we know...

LODHI: Sure.

ZAHN: ... your president will be making a national address over the next couple of days; specifically about how to diffuse tensions between India and Pakistan. We'd love your thoughts on that at another time because we've run out of time.

LODHI: Thank you.

ZAHN: And Dr. Lodhi, again, thank you for coming in this morning.

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