ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan stopped four ministers of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia from visiting the country and has tightened security at its frontier dividing the two nations, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
The decision was made in line with U.N. sanctions that ban supplying weapons to the Islamic Taliban and restrict foreign travel by their officials, Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider said.
The Taliban ministers were coming to Pakistan to attend a conference organized by a radical Islamic party in northwestern Pakistan last month, English-language daily Dawn quoted Haider as saying.
But they were stopped at Torkham, the main crossing between the two countries, and turned back, he said.
This is the first time that Pakistan - considered a close ally of the orthodox militia - has refused entry to Taliban high officials.
The U.N. imposed sanctions on the Taliban for its support of Osama bin Laden, whom Washington accuses of running a global terrorist network. Washington wants bin Laden to stand trial in the United States or a third country for his alleged involvement in the bombing of its two embassies in East Africa in 1998. The Taliban refuse to hand over bin Laden, saying that he is a fellow Muslim and a guest.
Pakistan opposes sanctions on the Taliban, but says it will abide by the U.N. decision.
The anti-Taliban opposition alliance regularly blames Pakistan of providing military and financial assistance to the Taliban, who rule 95 percent of Afghanistan, including the capital Kabul.
Haider rejected the charges.
Pakistani nationals belonging to radical Islamic parties have also been stopped from going to Afghanistan and participating in fighting against the opposition, Haider said.
The Taliban and Pakistani religious groups have close affinity because many of the Taliban leaders have been educated in Pakistani religious schools. Hundreds of Pakistani volunteers, who follow a Taliban-like harsh Islamic system, fight alongside the Taliban against the opposition.
Under the Taliban interpretation of Islam, women are barred from most jobs. All entertainment, including television and music, is outlawed and men have to wear beards.
Haider said the government has restored what he called the ``sanctity'' of its border with Afghanistan.
Hundreds of people from both sides of Pakistan-Afghan frontier used to cross it without travel documents. But Pakistan has imposed travel restrictions in recent months.
AP-NY-05-03-01 0618EDT
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.