Russia blasts Pakistan for ``terrorism'' links

By Gareth Jones

MOSCOW, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Russia accused Pakistan on Thursday of encouraging international terrorism and criticised its failure to condemn the Afghan Taleban movement's diplomatic recognition of breakaway Chechnya.

In an unusually tough statement, the foreign ministry said an array of extremist organisations was operating in Pakistan.

``In spite of Pakistan's official condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, the unhindered activity of a whole array of extremist organisations openly calling for jihad (holy war) against sovereign states continues on Pakistani territory,'' the ministry said.

Moscow has been incensed by Pakistan's silence over the Islamic Taleban's decision last week to extend diplomatic recognition to Chechnya, where Russian troops are fighting Moslem rebels.

Pakistan has close ties with the Taleban government, which is only recognised by Islamabad and a handful of states. Taleban, which controls 90 percent of Afghanistan, has accused the world of ignoring Russian ``atrocities'' in Chechnya.

``In the absence of a clear official reaction from Pakistan to the opening of a Chechen 'embassy' in Kabul, we are ever less inclined to take on trust the assertions that extremist and terrorist groups based in Pakistan are outside the control of the authorities or the assertions of the so-called 'full independence' of the Taleban,'' the Russian statement said.

RUSSIA SAYS IT FIGHTING TERRORISM IN CHECHNYA

Russia says it is fighting international terrorists in Chechnya -- an argument repeated by Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on Thursday in an address to the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, a human rights body in Strasbourg.

Moscow blames the Chechen rebels for a series of bomb blasts in Russia last autumn in which nearly 300 people died. The Chechens deny involvement.

Russia, under Western pressure to halt its campaign, says the Chechen rebels are receiving money and arms from Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, who is based in Afghanistan and is wanted by the United States for allegedly masterminding 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa which killed 200 people.

The Foreign Ministry statement said India's claims linking Pakistan to international terrorism sounded increasingly credible and urged Islamabad to crack down on extremist groups.

India, a traditional ally of Russia, is trying to isolate Pakistan for its alleged support for Kashmiri militant groups which Islamabad calls freedom fighters and New Delhi terrorists.

``If the Pakistani authorities are truly not in a position to control the growing lawless activity of extremist formations, then an even more alarming question arises of who really draws up the rules of play there,'' the statement said.

``The rapid growth in Pakistan of inter-ethnic, inter-confessional radicalism, separatism and terrorism may have the most serious consequences for the stability of all countries in the region without exception as indeed for Pakistan's own statehood,'' it added.

The United States has also urged Pakistan's military government to crack down on terrorist groups on its territory, saying they are giving the country a bad name.