Pakistan calls for no bombing during Ramadan

Pakistan's military ruler says continuing the US bombing campaign through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan will have a negative fallout in the Muslim world.

General Pervez Musharraf has also cautioned that civilian casualties are harming the image of the allied coalition.

In a speech in Paris, he said he would take up the issue of Ramadan with President Bush when he meets him in New York this weekend.

"My means of pressure will be the strength of my argument," General Musharraf said. "Civilian casualties ... must be avoided as much as possible. It is being perceived, in the whole world, as if this is a war against the poor, miserable, innocent people of Afghanistan."

The Pakistani leader is insisting on the need for "short and targeted" military action.

"The magnitude of the (military) objective to be achieved is not great at all. It is very minor," General Musharraf said in an apparent reference to the coalition's effort to quash the al-Qaida network of Osama bin Laden, the top suspect in the September 11 terror attacks. With the proper intelligence, he said, "it can be achieved in a few hours or a day."

But asked whether Pakistan knows bin Laden's whereabouts, General Musharraf said: "No. We don't know it at all. We would like to find that out."

General Musharraf also said Pakistan has "no intention" of breaking diplomatic relations with the Taliban regime, which is harboring bin Laden, He said it was "essential" these ties be maintained.

The diplomatic ties provide "a useful diplomatic window," he said. "Diplomatic interaction is useful and fruitful and accepted by the coalition."

Pakistan, Afghanistan's neighbor and the only country with diplomatic ties to the Taliban government, quickly sided with the United States after the September 11 attacks.

The Taliban represent the country's majority ethnic group, the Pashtuns, and General Musharraf reiterated Pakistan's insistence that Pashtuns, including moderate Taliban, be part of a future government.