InternaItional
journalists prepare to leave Pakistan
Islamabad,
Sep 29 (IANS) Most international journalists who came to Pakistan
in the hope of covering the U.S. retaliatory strike on Osama bid Laden`s
bases in Afghanistan are preparing to pack their bags and leave, as they
feel nothing was going to happen immediately.
"I
think there would be no attack at least for two/three weeks," an American
journalist said here.
During
informal discussions in hotel lobbies in Islamabad, packed with
American and other international journalists, it is clear that nobody thinks
anymore that the strikes are imminent.
Islamabad
for the last many days has become the centre of world attention
with all major media organisation setting their bases in local hotels. But
many of them are planning to leave.
A
Swiss journalist said her office has asked her to come back and that she
had received "information" that the U.S. has deferred the strikes.
A
Belgian journalist said the U.S. might hit "selected" targets inside
Afghanistan instead of going for "full-fledged" war. "A
Pakistani official
has told me there would be no strikes."
"My
organization doesn`t allow me to stay here further," says a
correspondent for a German newspaper. He said his boss was continuously
asking for "exclusive" stories but he has nothing to report except
for what
the electronic media and Pakistani newspapers are saying.
Taliban
supreme leader Mullah Muhammad Omar has reportedly said the U.S. has
postponed the attack.
Afghan
Islamic Press (AIP) quoted him as saying his intelligence people
informed him that the U.S. was now trying out other options as they have
failed to come up with evidence against bin Laden, prime suspect in the
attacks.
One
journalist said now the U.S. was working on installing a
"broad-based"
government in Afghanistan. "They first want to get rid of Taliban before
going for Osama," he said.
But
people here are taking the fact that foreign journalists are leaving as
a positive sign -- they think America has changed its mind about attacking
Afghanistan.
Since
naming bin Laden "prime suspect" in the devastating attacks with
hijacked planes, people of Islamabad had been living on the edge.
"It`s good the media people are leaving. It would
certainly ease our
tension. They must be leaving after instructions from their governments,"
a
hotel employee said.