Gadhafi son aids Arab 'innocents'

Gadhafi jnr. met with Pakistan's President, General Pervez Musharraf

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- The son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is in Islamabad pushing an initiative to free "the innocents" in Afghanistan -- those Arabs who are not members of al Qaeda and not fighters with the Taliban.

Shaif-el-Islam Gadhafi, head of the Gadhafi International Foundation for Charity Associations, said that as many as 15,000 Arabs -- many of them women and children -- may be in Afghanistan but not taking part in hostilities.

"This initiative is about those who are not fighting but who are simply in Afghanistan or married to or the sons and daughters of those who might have been fighters," Gadhafi told reporters on Saturday following separate meetings with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar.

"The al Qaeda people have chosen to fight," he said. "We are not dealing with them."

Gadhafi said he had been able to meet with Pakistan's leaders because his mission was a humanitarian and not a political one and because of "the long history of good relations between Libya and Pakistan."

Gadhafi also said his organisation had made contact with the United Nations, the Red Cross and several other governments.

He said he is calling on factional leaders in Afghanistan to facilitate the evacuation of Arabs from Afghanistan because the country and is asking for amnesty for those people "to let them go home."

Gadhafi sidestepped a question about his feelings about suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden, saying "people who are wanted are a different story -- they will fight until the end." Bin Laden and his fighters, Gadhafi said, are not likely seeking asylum.

The "innocent Arabs" in Afghanistan, however, are considered terrorists by the Western coalition and mercenaries by the Afghans and need help to leave the country, he said.

He added he would call on the Taliban, or what remains of it, to assist with his initiative to gain access to them and get them out.

-- CNN correspondent Tom Mintier contributed to this story.