Taliban voice silenced

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- In a diplomatic crackdown on the Taliban, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Thursday it ordered the fundamentalist militia to close its consulate in the port city of Karachi. \nTaliban diplomats also were told not to take part in nationwide protests by hard-line Islamic groups scheduled for Friday in Karachi, a center of Islamic fundamentalist activity, and protest organizers were warned against inciting violence. \nDespite the moves, Pakistani president Gen. Pervez Musharraf said Thursday that his military government had "no intention" of breaking diplomatic relations with the Taliban regime. \nPakistan is the only country to maintain diplomatic relations with the Taliban. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates severed their ties after the Sept. 11 attacks. \nThe ties with the Taliban provide "a useful diplomatic window," Musharraf said in Paris, where he met with French President Jacques Chirac to discuss the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism. \nThe Taliban embassy in Islamabad and consulates in Quetta and Peshawar remain open, said Aziz Ahmad Khan, a Foreign Ministry spokesman. Musharraf said there was little need for a Taliban consulate in the southeastern city of Karachi. \n"Having a Taliban consulate in Karachi is purposeless and it was having some negatives," Musharraf said. He noted that the Taliban consulate in Peshawar, near the border with Afghanistan, was useful because of Afghan refugees in the area. \nTaliban Ambassador Abdul Salam Zaeef told The Associated Press that the Pakistanis ordered operations ceased at the consulate by the end of the week. \nZaeef was also told to stop his regular news conferences, which he has used to condemn the United States and its coalition partners for the bombing campaign in Afghanistan. Broadcast live by CNN, the news conferences had made Zaeef the most visible Taliban spokesman. \nPakistan supports the U.S. campaign, launched Oct. 7 after the ruling Taliban refused to hand over terror suspect Osama bin Laden, wanted in connection with the September attacks. \nPakistan made the moves ahead of a nationwide strike called by the Afghan Defense Council, an alliance of 35 Islamic groups, to protest the government's support of the bombing campaign in Afghanistan. \nOfficials said the government has told Zaeef to make sure Afghan diplomatic staff in Pakistan do not take part in the rallies. Scores of Islamic activists and leaders also have been put under house arrest or travel restrictions. \nHaider warned hard-line Islamic groups Thursday against inciting violence. "We can't tolerate sedition. We can't encourage anarchy," he said. \nThe government also plans to stop funding and to monitor madrassas, or religious schools, that promote violence and extremism, Haider told The Associated Press. \nIn recent months, madrassa students in Karachi have rioted several times to protest support of the U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan.