Extracts. Muslim World Wants Evidence before US Military Action. There are growing signs that support for the US-led war on terrorism is wavering in the Muslim world as it waits for concrete proof of Osama bin Laden's alleged complicity in the attacks on New York and Washington. US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday the evidence fingering bin Laden would be made public soon, but with US forces already massing for an expected strike on Afghanistan, patience in many Muslim nations is wearing thin. "We will put before the world, the American people, a persuasive case that there will be no doubt when that case is presented that it is al Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, who has been responsible" for the attacks, Powell said on the ABC network. But officials in Pakistan say the only information they have received from the United States on bin Laden's links to terrorism has been related to the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. To date, nothing solid has been communicated regarding evidence collected on the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. The Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which has sheltered bin Laden since 1996, has said it would be willing to consider putting the Saudi-born dissident on trial if the United States provided convincing evidence of his guilt. Washington has firmly rejected the Taliban's stance, insisting that it hand bin Laden into US custody immediately or face the consequences. At the same time the US authorities have fended off the requests for evidence, citing the importance of discretion in conducting its investigation into the terrorist atrocities. The initial outpouring of sympathy from the Muslim world for the victims of the attacks on the United States has in recent days been replaced by a concern bordering on hostility over the scope of the planned retaliation. Former Pakistan foreign minister Sartaj Aziz said Sunday the issue of evidence was crucial given US preparations for military action against Afghanistan and possible reprisals against targets in other Muslim countries. Given the religious sensitivities inherent in the current crisis, Aziz said the United States ought to present its findings to some international judicial body before unleashing its military machine. He pointed out that a thick dossier had been compiled against former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic prior to his transfer to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Arab League chief Amr Mussa warned in Jordan on Sunday that US strikes against any Arab states would be unacceptable. "There are different ways of fighting against terrorism and it must be the subject of consultations" among Arab countries, the head of the 22-country grouping told reporters. "Clearly, we would never accept a strike against an Arab country, no matter what the circumstances," he said. Meanwhile, the Gulf monarchies said Sunday that the United States must clearly define the framework of the proposed war on terrorism, also pledging their support for efforts to track down the perpetrators of the attacks. "Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states are ready to take part in any action in a communal framework with well-defined objectives," Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin Mubarak al-Khalifa said at the closed-door Gulf foreign ministers' meeting in the Saudi city of Jeddah. Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan also underlined the need for Washington to take the world into its confidence. "We have said, and many world leaders have said, that evidence should be shared with the international community," Khan said. Pakistani officials have commented in private on the fact that arrests arising out of the US investigation so far have mostly been of people linked to Arab networks in the Middle East, and have questioned when concrete proof will emerge of a direct link with bin Laden. According to Aziz, the "war frenzy" emanating from Washington was seen by many Muslim countries as carrying an anti-Islamic bias, despite assurances from the US administration that its enemy was terrorism and not Islam. The accusations the United States has levelled against the Taliban in Afghanistan and regimes in other Muslim countries suspected of harbouring terrorists were "very, very serious," Aziz said. "If this is pursued, it will force countries and groups to polarise along religious lines," he added. **** Taliban Embassy in Islamabad - Window of Communication With Outside World: Pakistani Official. Taliban's embassy in Islamabad is a window of interaction between the Taliban authorities and the international community, Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman Riaz Muhammad Khan said here on Saturday. Khan was responding to a question at a press briefing whether Pakistan plans to sever ties with the Taliban authorities as done by the United Arab Emirates. Khan said Pakistan has been maintaining skeleton staff in Kabul. He said Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan returned to Islamabad a couple of months ago. He said Taliban maintains an embassy in Islamabad. "This embassy has served as a useful window for Taliban with the rest of the world and for the international community to interact with Taliban who controls not just Kabul but most of Afghanistan." In Islamabad, he said, the Taliban representative can listen what the rest of the world is asking for and expecting from Taliban. Following the U.N. Security Council's anti-Taliban resolutions, the spokesman said, Pakistan has asked Taliban to scale down its presence and it had done so. **** China Refutes Rumor on Laden's Fleeing to China Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao refuted Saturday as "totally ungrounded" the report by a British newspaper saying that Osama bin Laden is in China. The British newspaper Guardian reported that Osama bin Laden had fled Afghanistan and entered China. It said that Osama bin Laden was hiding out somewhere in China. Zhu said that the report by the Guardian is "totally ungrounded. " "I wonder what motive the newspaper's reporter harbors in disseminating such a rumor at this moment," Zhu said. FM Spokesman Refutes Distorted Reports on China's Anti-Terrorism Stance Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao Thursday refuted some distorted media reports on China's anti-terrorism stance, reiterating its unconditional support for all the anti-terrorism activities. Some reports claimed that according to the September 18 press conference, China's cooperation with the United States to combat terrorism is on the condition that the U.S. support China against separatists. Zhu pointed out that some media reports patched up his answers to different questions and seriously distorted China's position. China has made clear its anti-terrorism stance, which was clearly stated in the phone conversation between President Jiang Zemin and leaders of countries concerned on September 18, he said **** "Strike Hard" Drive to Go Deeper: Official A senior Chinese official has called for greater sense of responsibility, more determination and stronger measures to push forward the "Strike Hard" campaign against severe crimes. Luo Gan, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the call Friday in a speech at a national teleconference on the issue. Luo is also a state councilor and secretary of the Committee of Political Sciences and Law Under the CPC Central Committee. According to Luo, since April this year, law-enforcement departments, with the help of local people, have cracked down on a number of criminal groups. However, he noted, the security situation in some areas has remained very serious and features the existence of organized crimes. In the next stage, the "Strike Hard" campaign will be focused on striking criminal groups and punishing severe crimes. Efforts will be made to deal with major criminal cases and chase the escaping criminals, so as to achieve an obvious improvement in social security within two years, he said. Meanwhile, Luo also stressed the need to study the changes in the situation of fighting terrorism in the world and in China. He called for greater efforts to prevent terrorist activities. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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