Pakistan studies Bin Laden evidence

Some Pakistanis are angry about support for the US

Pakistan says it is studying evidence received from the United States about the activities of Osama Bin Laden.

But the Pakistan Foreign Ministry says it cannot yet say if the evidence proves Bin Laden's links to the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington.

Do you want us to jump the gun and reach a conclusion before we have seen the material?

Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who on Wednesday indicated that military action against Bin Laden and his hosts, the Taleban, was inevitable, is to visit Pakistan on Friday, reports say.

And Pakistan's President, General Pervez Musharraf, has invited an emissary from the exiled former king of Afghanistan to discuss its future political structure.

Meanwhile, a team of Pakistani clerics is reported to have cancelled a trip to the Taleban headquarters in the Afghan city of Kandahar because they have given up hope of negotiating an end to the crisis.

'Don't jump the gun'

It was Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Riaz Khan who first revealed that his government has received evidence from the US about Bin Laden.

Mr Khan was far more cautious than Nato, which said on Wednesday that it had received compelling evidence of Bin Laden's guilt.

Musharraf was criticised for not seeking evidence

"Now we have received some material and we are examining it.

"So how do you want us to jump the gun and reach a conclusion before we have seen the material?" he asked journalists in Islamabad.

Pakistan has offered substantial military co-operation to Washington in its war against global terrorism.

In return, the US has dropped sanctions against Pakistan.

But President Musharraf has also insisted that it should see proof of Bin Laden's guilt before any military action is taken in Afghanistan.

The BBC correspondent in Islamabad says one of the main criticisms of the president in Pakistan is that he gave his support to Washington without having seen any evidence.

Pakistan officials are quoted as saying that UK Prime Minister Tony Blair - the strongest supporter of President Bush's war against terrorism - will arrive in Islamabad for talks on Friday.

Mr Blair said on Sunday he had been shown an "incontrovertible link" between Bin Laden and the US terror attacks.

Role for ex-king

Although Pakistan is the only country to recognise the Taleban's legitimacy in Afghanistan, President Musharraf now appears to see a role for former King Zahir Shah in bringing about peace.

The 86-year old former monarch, who was deposed in 1973, lives in exile in Rome.

The former king has welcomed an invitiation from President Musharraf to send a representative to Islamabad for talks.

The king's son said good relations with Pakistan were important to his father, who is involved in trying to form an administration that could replace the Taleban.

President Musharraf extended the invitation during a meeting with Italian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Margherita Boniver. She said Pakistan now realised that the ex-king could have a role to play in Afghanistan.

Nevertheless, any last hopes of negotiating an end to the crisis over Osama Bin Laden took a further knock on Thursday when leaders of four pro-Taleban parties in Pakistan cancelled a trip to Kandahar.

A spokesman for Jamaat-e Islami told the Associated Press new agency that the leaders, all clerics, saw no chance of ending the deadlock over the Taleban's refusal to hand Bin Laden over to the United States.