Every morning, just before afternoon prayers, the Taliban's Ambassador to Pakistan holds court to the world's media.
Sitting before a battery of microphones and TV cameras, Mr Abdul Salam Zaeef lets loose a volley of anti-American rhetoric as part of his regime's propaganda war.
Mr Zaeef, now the Taliban's only ambassador abroad, squats cross-legged on the ground making his case. Wearing a white turban and sometimes stroking his wild black beard, he repeats the same message over and over again.
The Taliban, he says, will not hand over Osama bin Laden. US bombs are killing innocent civilians in Afghanistan. And America is a "superpower bully", and an enemy of Islam that must be destroyed by jihad.
Yesterday, Mr Zaeef was missing from his usual perch in the Taliban Embassy building in Islamabad.
Instead, the embassy was under siege by hundreds of journalists not looking for the latest Taliban line, but for a visa to enter the country to see for themselves the damage caused by US bombs.
The Taliban issued visas to 14 journalists to visit the Afghan city of Kandahar, at the weekend.
The fact that a select group got the much sought after passport stamp has been the source of serious jealousy and rows amongst some of the estimated 1,000 journalists in Pakistan covering the current crisis.
One big talking point was that the BBC was not given a magic pass, while CNN and ITN did. The "gang of 14", as the group has been nicknamed by colleagues, also include Reuters, AP and some Arab journalists.
They were escorted by bus over the border by the Taliban, including Mr Zaeef, last Saturday. They were due to stay 24 hours, but had not returned by yesterday evening.
There were reports that some journalists paid hundreds of dollars for a visa.
One news organisation allegedly paid over $2,000, and the word was the official who took the bribe has been moved.
Word spread yesterday that the Taliban would today announce a second list of reporters to get visas to go to Afghanistan.
Bringing journalists into the country suits the Taliban's propaganda purposes, to show the world the damage and devastation caused by the nightly bombing assaults.
By yesterday afternoon, an estimated 500 hopeful journalists had been to the Taliban Embassy to lodge application forms and to plead their case. The three armed Taliban guards, permanently lodged outside the embassy, looked on bemused at the media scrum.
One by one, eager reporters and TV and radio news crews approached staff for a quiet word, hoping they would say something to convince the Taliban to put them on the list..
The visa hustle was the only story in town yesterday. The nationwide strike and protest called by religious leaders to protest at the visit of the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, to Islamabad, failed to make an impact.
Only about one quarter of shops closed in the capital, Islamabad, and a minor rally in the morning posed no problem for the hundreds of paramilitary units and police drafted into the city.
Security was tight in cities all over Pakistan with the authorities determined to prevent a repeat of clashes on Sunday that killed at least one person and injured 12 in Jacobabad town where US logistical forces have been deployed.
Yesterday, Pakistani police detained at least 100 workers of pro-Taliban Islamic groups in raids on houses in Jacobabad in southern Sindh province.
In the southern city of Hyderabad, police fired in the air to disperse labourers at a cement factory when they hurled stones at passing vehicles. Police said they had arrested one person who set fire to a vehicle and several more had been detained in a clash with police.
This was as much as the hardline religious groups could muster, making it a good day for Pakistan's military leader, Gen Perez Musharraff, who has come under pressure for assisting the United States in its campaign against Afghanistan.