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Kamal Hyder: Hunting al Qaeda on the Pakistan border

CNN Correspondent Kamal Hyder

MOHMAND, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistani tribal militia are working with the Pakistani military to watch for any Taliban or al Qaeda fighters trying to slip across the Afghan border into Pakistan.

CNN Correspondent Kamal Hyder is in Pakistan and filed this report by videophone on Thursday.

HYDER: Here on the Pakistani border with Afghanistan, for the first time since independence, Pakistan has deployed such a massive force, thousands of men from the regular army, as well as the tribal militia forces. We spent last night at a post on the border and we saw fires burning every 100 meters. These positions are manned for the first time, with heavy deployment along the border.

But it comes at a time when three Indian strike formations are poised in the Punjab, and, of course, there is a lot of feeling here that they were like to, you know, withdraw some forces from the Western border to the East.

CNN: Kamal, it's a little confusing for us because we're not looking at a map right now. Can you tell us where exactly are you in Pakistan in relation to Afghanistan?

HYDER: Carol, Mohmand is an area straddling the Afghan border. It has an 83-kilometer border with Afghanistan. This would be the tail-end, more or less, of the Tora Bora Mountains. After Mohmand, you have Tira, where people suspect Osama may have gone. We've been able to talk to the tribals here along the border. They feel like that they're going to cooperate with their military forces in apprehending any terrorists coming into Pakistan. They are determined, they say, to support the army on this one.

CNN: Isn't that unusual Kamal, though? I mean, aren't you in an area where tribal law rules -- typically it's an area that doesn't cooperate with the Pakistani government or even the Pakistani military. So how unusual is this relationship that these tribals are now having in the search for Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden?

HYDER: Well, for a moment when the mullahs came to power, when the Taliban came to power, their friends in Pakistan became very powerful and very strong, and they started getting more supporters in Pakistan. But with the battle in Afghanistan, most people here realize that the mullahs have let them down; that before that the politicians let them down; and this time it is the mullahs that have let them down; and there is a lot of gloom here.

People feel that there must be more cooperation with the central authority because if al Qaeda members do filter into Pakistan and find a safe haven, they're sure that their tribal way of life, which has existed for hundreds and thousands of years in some cases, should not be disturbed. And they're saying and sending a clear message that the Taliban did not bring Islam to this tribal land; that Islam was here before them and they would like to reinstitute, reinvigorate tribal mores, tribal culture, and expect people to conform to that.

CNN: Kamal, you've been our man in Afghanistan throughout this conflict and I'm wondering if I could put you on the spot. Where do you think Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden are right now?

HYDER: Well, that's a very good question. I think it's a question everybody would want to answer if they knew the reply, but I will tell you that Mullah Omar in all likelihood would be in the south because that is his strong base; that's where he had support. Of course, he went with a lot of people.

And as far as Osama bin Laden is concerned, people are not even sure whether he was in the Tora Bora area, and indeed if he was in the Tora Bora area, he could not come across into Pakistan because Pakistan arrested Amil Kansi (convicted of the 1993 shooting deaths two CIA employees in Virginia) and Ramzi Yousef (convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center), both wanted on $5 million reward money, and people here are saying that they wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to get $25 million by arresting Osama bin Laden.

So, (in) all probability, he is still in Afghanistan or probably, as people here are saying, that he probably has fled to Pakistan by using the mountain ridges and trying to stay in Balochistan. But no confirmation on that, either.