Militants release video of former ISI officers

[EjazR]

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

* Captors of Colonel Imam, Khalid Khawaja, British journalist demanding ransom of $10m, release of Mullah Baradar, Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, Maulvi Kabir
* Families of former operatives also using ‘other channels’

By Iqbal Khattak

PESHAWAR: “Jihadi” and “other channels” have been opened to secure the safe return of two former ISI operatives, along with a British journalist, all of whom have been “missing” since April 26 and are believed to have been abducted by a group linked to the Taliban in North Waziristan, officials and pro-Taliban sources said on Thursday.

Former ISI officials Col Imam alias Sultan Amir Tarar and Khalid Khawaja and a British journalist of Pakistani origin, Asad Qureshi, were seen in a video provided to local and international media via email on Wednesday, with their captors – who identified themselves as “Asian Tigers” – demanding “freedom” for Taliban leaders Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Mullah Mansoor Dadullah and Maulvi Kabir in exchange for the release of the former ISI officials. They also demanded a ransom of $10 million to allow the journalist to “walk into a free world”.

Regarded as pro-Taliban, Mullah Shah Abdul Aziz – a Karak-based JUI leader of the Samiul Haq group – held talks with senior Taliban leaders in Mir Ali town of North Waziristan on Monday, while the sons of the two former spies are also using other channels to secure the release of Colonel Imam and Khalid Khawaja. Javed Ibrahim Paracha – a PML-N leader with close links to jihadi organisations – said Shah Abdul Aziz made contact with the Taliban in Mir Ali to negotiate the release of the kidnapped men.

“They spent a night with me, but before leaving me on April 26, they did not say where they were going. What I know is that the British journalist is on an assignment ... [it’s] a documentary on the Taliban ... [while] the former ISI officials are helping him,” Paracha told Daily Times over the phone from his hometown of Kohat.

A British TV network sent the journalist to Pakistan, and he sought the former intelligence operatives’ help in making contact with the Taliban. But it is not clear under what circumstances or agreement the former operatives – who hold considerable clout over the Taliban – set out with the journalist.

While the captors have threatened to kill the hostages if their demands are not met, the ISI headquarters in Islamabad appears optimistic that the former spies would return home unhurt. However, the headquarters fears that the captors might hurt the journalist if the government in London does not move.

Notwithstanding the optimism, there is worry for the two former ISI officials: the country’s secret services are trying to ensure that the hostages are not “sold out” to another group in Afghanistan, because Kabul might harm them for their support for the Taliban when the ultra-conservatives were ruling the country from 1996-2001.

The fear emanates from a “sell-out” of the past: a Peshawar-based Iranian diplomat was kidnapped from Peshawar and later rescued from Afghanistan after a deal.

“The two men will be in real danger if they are taken across the border, where they are hated for their views and role about the Taliban,” said the security officials.

Khalid Khawaja’s wife told Daily Times over the phone from Islamabad that “Usman Punjabi” was the mastermind of the kidnapping. “He is leading a group of about 50 to 60 criminals, and we believe he is behind the whole affair,” she said.

Col Imam’s son, who is a one-star general in the Pakistan Army, and the sons of Khalid Khawaja, believed to be in the defence forces, are also using “other channels” to negotiate the return of their fathers.

The official sources said it was unlikely that the government would set free the three Afghan Taliban leaders. However, they said it was likely that the ransom would be paid to bring the journalist back.

Col Imam is a respected figure among the Taliban, as he is regarded as a teacher of Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, and Col Imam was a frequent visitor to Kandahar when he was stationed in Herat. Col Imam’s abduction by the very same people who he holds in high esteem has come as a shock.

The mystery surrounding the disappearance of the two high-profile former spies is likely to clear when the two face the media and narrate the real story

 

[EjazR]

AN ATOL EXCLUSIVE
Confessions of a Pakistani spy
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

ISLAMABAD - Retired squadron leader Khalid Khawaja, a former Inter-Services Intelligence official and a close friend of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden during the resistance in Afghanistan against the Soviets in the 1980s, has explained in videos sent to Asia Times Online how he was on a mission to broker a deal between militants and the army when he was captured by militants, and how he played a double game by deceiving a radical cleric into being arrested.

Khawaja was dismissed from the air force in the late 1980s and subsequently earned a reputation of having close ties to some militant groups. Khawaja has played an important behind-the-scenes role in both regional and national politics. Before the US attack on Afghanistan in late 2001, he was a part of the back-room diplomacy between the US and the Taliban, which failed miserably.

The revelations appear in five video clips sent to Asia Times Online by an al-Qaeda-linked group of militants from the Pakistani North Waziristan tribal area. The clips appear to have been heavily edited, with some of Khawaja's sentences - he is speaking in Urdu - cut off. At times it appears that a frail Khawaja, in his early 60s, is under duress.

The following are five video clips sent to Asia Times Online featuring Khalid Khawaja, who is speaking in Urdu. Video files are approximately 2.5Mb each in MOV format. (videos available on the linked news item)

On March 25, Khawaja traveled to North Waziristan to interview commanders Sirajuddin Haqqani and Waliur Rahman Mehsud. He was accompanied by a British citizen, Asad Qureshi, a reporter with Channel 4, and Colonel Ameer Sultan Tarrar, also a former long-time ISI official and once Pakistan's consul-general in Herat in Afghanistan.

Tarrar was nicknamed "Colonel Imam" by the mujahideen as he was instrumental in helping raise the Taliban militia and he trained present Taliban leader Mullah Omar and other top Afghan leaders, including Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and the slain Northern Alliance leader, Ahmad Shah Massoud. "Colonel Imam" is widely referred to as the "Father of the Taliban."

The three men have not been heard from since March 25.

Soon after their disappearance, Punjabi militants calling themselves the "Asian Tigers" sent a video to the media in which they demanded a ransom of US$10 million for the release of Asad Qureshi and the freedom of Taliban leaders Mullah Baradar and Mansoor Dadullah in exchange for Khawaja and Colonel Imam.

The Afghan Taliban have distanced themselves from the kidnappings and their spokesman Zabiullah Muhajahid said they were working for the release of the two.

In the video footage, Khawaja confesses to a scheme to bring down the radical movement that had become centered around Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in the capital, Islamabad. By mid-2007, the movement had become increasingly aggressive. Students from nearby educational faculties had taken to the streets to persuade video shops not to sell "vulgar" movies. The campaign took a turn for the worse when the students seized a suspected brothel owner in the Aapara area, where both the Taliban-supporting Lal Masjid and the ISI were situated.

Khawaja says he hatched a plan with Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the chief of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (the largest Islamic party in the country), the Gand Mufti of Pakistan, Mufti Rafi Usmani, and other scholars to eliminate the Lal Masjid movement from Islamabad.

Khawaja says he trapped Maulana Abdul Aziz, the prayer leader of the mosque and the brother of Ghazi Abdul Rasheed, with whom Aziz ran Lal Masjid.

Khawaja says he telephoned Aziz and lured him into being arrested. Rasheed was killed in the military raid on the mosque in which scores of militants also died.

"I am known among the media and masses as a thoroughbred gentleman, but in fact I was an ISI and CIA [US Central Intelligence Agency] mole ... I am remembering the burnt bodies of the innocent boys and girls of Lal Masjid ... I called Maulana Abdul Aziz and forced him to come out of the mosque wearing a woman's veil and gown, and that's how I got him arrested," Khawaja says in one of the video clips.

The Lal Masjid incident proved a defining moment in Pakistan's recent history: it culminated in the decline of president Pervez Musharraf, who stepped down in August 2008, and provoked a fierce reaction among militants against the Pakistani state.

Khawaja says that top jihadi commanders were the ISI's proxies and were given a free hand to collect funds. The leaders included Maulana Fazlur Rahman Khalil (who laid the foundations of the International Islamic Front with bin Laden in 1998), Maulana Masood Azhar (chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammad), Abdullah Shah Mazhar (a former supreme commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammad.)

"I brought here a list of 14 commanders and was aiming to malign them among militant circles ... Abdullah Shah Mazhar, Fazlur Rahman Khalil, Masood Azhar and jihadi organizations like Laskhar-e-Taiba, al-Badr, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Harkatul Mujahideen, Jamiatul Mujahideen etc operate with the financial cooperation of the Pakistani secret services and they are allowed collect their funds inside Pakistan," Khawaja says in the video.

Khawaja was arrested immediately after the Lal Masjid operation and spent several months in jail. He had been involved in talks with the government to prevent the military from moving into the mosque and he had assured the government that he would resolve the matter without force. However, the government intercepted some of his messages in which he apparently urged those inside the mosque not to surrender and he was arrested as a collaborator with the Lal Masjid.

He was a known critic of the role of the Pakistani Intelligence agencies after September 11, 2001, when Pakistan sided with the US in the "war on terror".

He was one of the few prominent people to openly provide assistance to Arab-Afghan families whose male members had been arrested or killed during the US invasion on Afghanistan in 2001.

At the time of his disappearance, Khawaja was working for the cause of missing people - mostly militants. But because of his past links to the air force and the ISI, he has always been viewed with some suspicion by al-Qaeda.

Khawaja was retired from the air force in the late 1980s after he wrote a letter to the then-president, General Zia ul-Haq, in which he called him a hypocrite for not enforcing Islam in Pakistan. He then went to Afghanistan and fought alongside bin Laden. He was a recruiter and trainer of Pakistani fighters for the resistance against the Soviets.

Khawaja's name hit the headlines again in February 2002 in connection with the kidnapping, torture and murder by militants of American reporter Daniel Pearl. It was alleged that he was involved in the abduction at the behest of the ISI.

Khawaja gave several interviews to Asia Times Online in which he revealed how he had set up a meeting in Saudi Arabia in the late 1980s between bin Laden and then leader of the opposition, Nawaz Sharif, to dislodge Benazir Bhutto's government. Her government fell in 1990 and Sharif became premier. Khawaja also revealed that in the late 1980s he passed on funds from bin Laden to a former Pakistani minister, Sheikh Rasheed, for the operation of training camps for Kashmiri separatists.

It is unclear why Khawaja took Colonel Imam with him to North Waziristan. In the video footage, Khawaja says, "I was sent by the Pakistan army in North Waziristan because the army was badly caught in the middle of a conflict and was unable come out. I was sent to get reconciliation between the army and the militants so that the militants would give safe passage to the military to leave the area."

 

[Vassnti]

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

* Captors of Colonel Imam, Khalid Khawaja, British journalist demanding ransom of $10m, release of Mullah Baradar, Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, Maulvi Kabir
* Families of former operatives also using ‘other channels’

By Iqbal Khattak

$10 million to allow the journalist to “walk into a free world”.

“He is leading a group of about 50 to 60 criminals, and we believe he is behind the whole affair,” she said.

Makes you wonder if the release the Taliban prisioners is just spin and the real interest is the money. If they are being held by a bunch of criminals rather than the people they used to work with it all makes much more sense. Though still stupid even if they get the ransom i doubt they will live long enough to spend it.

 

[Javed3]

Both officers can be added to the list of 500 odd "missing persons". Circumstantial evidence shows that they are being held by a US sponsored group rather than Taliban. "Asian Tigers" is not an appropriate name for a Jihadi outfit.

 

[T-Faz]

From September last year onwards Taliban Shura or more popularly termed as Quetta Shura (QS) suddenly cropped up in US media and drummed up. New York Times wrote that that issue of Taliban leadership Shura in Quetta had emerged at top of Obama administration’s agenda in its meetings with Pakistani officials.

It took the US eight years to accept that Afghanistan and not Pakistan is the epicenter of terrorism. Gen McChrystal admitted that insurgency in Afghanistan was predominantly Afghan. Elimination of QS or as a minimum its division became an important goal of USA, India and Afghanistan. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were cajoled to help the trio in realizing their objective of winning over the moderate Taliban and members of QS. Five Taliban leaders based in Afghanistan who were part of Mullah Omar Council from 1996 to 2001 have been cultivated and so is Mullah Zaeef, ex Ambassador to Islamabad.

Karzai’s emissaries have been secretly meeting members of QS and other influential Taliban leaders and had achieved some successes. Mullah Brothers Dadullah and Mansoor Dadullah as well as Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar belong to Kandahar and are related to Karzai. It was through them that Karzai was trying to contact Mullah Omar and other hard line Taliban leaders. He had established contacts with Gulbadin Hikmatyar who had given his consent to sit on the negotiating table.

Besides Baradar, few other important members of QS were also cultivated. It was essentially because of his contacts within the ranks of Taliban that Karzai was tolerated by USA for so long despite his serious limitations.

Afghan Taliban and Pakistani Taliban from FATA are closely linked because of blood relations and common ethnic bonds. Latter had always come to the assistance of Afghans whenever Afghanistan was invaded by foreign forces and had also provided them shelter. In the ongoing war it was decided by Afghan Taliban that they will not join Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to fight Pak security forces but would provide material and financial assistance as well as safe havens to them.

They however wanted TTP and its bases to remain intact since it provided them sanctuaries whenever required and also attacked ISAF logistic vehicles. There has all along been subtle understanding between the two as was evident from Baitullah Mehsud and other leading commanders of TTP who had sworn allegiance to Mulla Omar and had declared Osama as their supreme leader in early 2009.

Once the TTP got deprived of its assertive leader Baitullah and was up stuck from its bases and was in total disarray after the successful military operations in Malakand Division, Swat, Bajaur, and South Waziristan and Bajaur, the Afghan Taliban considered it expedient to provide oxygen to TTP before it fragmented.

Mulla Baradar and some other key members of QS who had old contacts in Pakistan were infiltrated into Balochistan from Helmand in November 2009 to revive their contacts and reorganize TTP. Karzai was very much party to it since he wanted Baradar to locate other members of QS who were refusing to talk and to win them over. The story circulated by western media about QS coincided with the entry of QS members from Afghanistan into Pakistan.

Karzai in league with India and Israel and with the blessing of USA had chalked out a gory plan to entice and lure in whole lot of resistance leaders to Kabul promising them share in power and once they got assembled for loya jirga in last April, they all were to be eliminated. The grisly plan was similar to the one played by Kufans who had invited Imam Hussein and his companions to Kufa assuring them full support and protection but when they came the Kufans betrayed them resulting in most horrible massacre of human history at the hands of Yazid’s men at Karbala.

The ISI got inkling and succeeded in nabbing Baradar from Karachi which was a major breakthrough achieved since he is number two man in Mulla Omar’s Shura.

Some other key members of QS were also arrested in January-February Their capture by Pakistan security forces averted a disaster which was about to occur but caused a setback to the band of three and infuriated them. When Karzai found that the US was refusing to put pressure on Pakistan to repatriate Baradar and other Afghan nationals to Afghanistan he changed his posture and play a fast one.

Having remained hostile to Pakistan he wore the mask of friendship and started expressing his unbounded love and affection for Pakistan. Terming Afghanistan and Pakistan as inseparable twin brothers, he has lent assurance to Pakistani leaders that he will not allow Afghan soil for exporting terrorism to Pakistan. Karzai’s belated expression of warmth notwithstanding, it must not be forgotten that he is untrustworthy. During the Afghan Jihad and later Taliban rule, he lived in exile in Quetta and was well served. Pakistan helped him in winning votes from Afghan refugees based in Pakistan and also extended all kinds of assistance.

When he took over as president he changed his color and became pro-India and anti-Pakistan. As a chosen puppet of USA he sold Afghans to USA. He also played into the hands of India friendly Northern Alliance and remained under their complete sway. These factors made him highly unpopular among the Pashtuns because of which his writ got shrunk to Kabul. He not only allowed Indian influence to grow in his country unabatedly but also came under their spell and did as guided by Indian advisers.

Karzai started accusing Pakistan and singing the tune of cross border terrorism at the behest of India from 2004 onwards. His intelligence outfit RAAM structured by RAW worked in close collaboration with Indian agencies to destabilize Balochistan and FATA. He paid no heed to the proofs of RAW’s involvement in Balochistan shown to him during his visit to Islamabad in early 2006. Nor did he bother about repeated complaints of Pakistan that Indian consulates in southern and eastern Afghanistan were indulging in covert operations against Pakistan. At one stage he threatened to send his forces into FATA. He allowed Baloch runaways like Balach Marri, Brahamdagh Bugti and others asylum and helped in establishing BLA HQ in Kandahar. He has so far not taken any practical steps to bridle India from launching covert operations against Pakistan from Afghan soil. Nor has he restrained Brahamdagh from making Balochistan restive. Hence his affections are mere rhetoric and lip service. He is visiting India on 26 April to assure Indian leaders of his continued support.

He has been trying to woo Mullah Omar and other Taliban leaders as well as Hikmatyar since 2007 but his offer of talks were spurned by Omar. When Foreign Minister Abdullah backed by India stood up as a presidential candidate in August 2009 elections, Karzai tried to play upon the sentiments of Pashtuns to win their votes. Both failed to muster desired votes because of which polling exercise was repeated in November amidst charges of fraud and rigging in which Karzai was declared the winner. He is now complaining that fraud was committed by foreign powers to weaken his position. Of late he has come under increasing pressure of US officials including Obama to mend his style of governance and to curb wide scale corruption and affect tangible improvements. Although he is no more in best books of USA, however the US has no other option and has to perforce keep relying upon him.

Karzai is an American satrap in Kabul. He has apparently begun to bite the hand that had been feeding him since 2004. Either it is a put up show to draw sympathy of Afghan Pashtuns and deceive people of Pakistan, or an act to show his nuisance value to the Americans who have begun to lose confidence and interest in him. He has not liked Obama and other US officials criticizing him and telling him to deliver and hurled a veiled threat that if continued to push he might join hands with the Taliban. If he ever commits the mistake, it would amount to digging his own grave. Already, the US has tipped US based Prince Ali Siraj from King Zahir Shah dynasty to get ready to replace Karzai. Khalil Nuri, also residing in USA is of the view that only the siblings of Zahir Shah can restore semblance of order in Afghanistan.

Former UN Special Envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide was also among the competitors contending to make a dent in QS. He claimed that he was in secret contacts with Taliban since March 2009 and had made substantial progress but his progress was torpedoed following arrest of Mulla Baradar. He is these days brooding that his one-year hard work has gone waste. It is difficult to believe that Eide could have gained contact with Taliban leaders in hiding at his own and managed to keep his parleys secret from six intelligence agencies and troops from 43 countries in Afghanistan. Undoubtedly it was a collective plan and not a solo flight by Eide.

Possibly Saudi Arabia must also have been kept informed because of its influence on Taliban. Pakistan was the only country from whom backdoor contacts were kept secret.

India too was busy playing its role in subverting reconcilable Taliban. Having already made a place among Afghan non-Pashtuns, it went about presenting a soft face to win over other communities of Afghanistan as well. It posed itself as a friend, interested only in extending a helping hand to develop war ravaged country. It is one of the biggest regional donors; its investment of $1.2 billion to Afghanistan, mainly aid for social services including road infrastructure, health, education and road transport etc helped in building its friendly and docile image particularly when its military didn’t become a member of coalition forces to kill Afghans. It pretended as a builder rather than a destroyer.

India’s spying and subversive activities both against anti-Indian forces in Afghanistan and against Pakistan were undertaken secretly from 2001 onwards. Indian intelligence agencies helped by CIA, FBI and RAAM began recruiting Afghan refugees residing in Pakistan, Pashtun and non-Pashtun Afghans, dissidents from FATA and foreigners to give shape to its gory plan of destabilizing Pakistan. The military trainers and commandoes imparting training to saboteurs too remained dressed in civil clothes pretending to be civilians working on development projects.

At the same time Indian psychological operators and intelligence goons poisoned the minds of Afghans against Pakistan, projecting it as unreliable, treacherous and unfriendly to Afghanistan. From 2007 onwards, RAW began to concentrate on moderate Taliban to create cleavage between reconcilable and irreconcilable in line with US plan.

Thanks to insidious role played by India and Israel, till recent, Pakistan was seen suspiciously by US, distrusted and castigated. Too much of hue and cry was made over QS and Pakistan was pressed to get hold of QS members involved in coordinating resistance war in southern Afghanistan, or to allow CIA to launch drone strikes in Balochistan. None questioned as to what was faction of QS doing in Quetta when its leader Omar and all its fighters were in Afghanistan. Neither the Pashtuns nor Baloch in Balochistan had any history of supporting Taliban movement in Afghanistan.

Arrest of Baradar and other important members of QS by Pak security forces should have been rejoiced by all affected parties involved in war on terror striving to restore peace n Afghanistan. On the contrary arrests of almost 50% members have hung a pal of gloom over them. USA, India, Afghan regime, Israel and UN are vexed and feel they have been outfoxed by Pakistan in their own game. A vile propaganda has now been mounted that the arrests were carried out to sabotage peace efforts undertaken by Karzai regime since Pakistan was least interested in peace in Afghanistan.

Reportedly Baradar had agreed to attend the three-day Jirga hosted by Karzai in Kabul in April which could have paved the way for isolating Mullah Omar and putting into action the reintegration plan without involving Pakistan. High hopes were pinned on Loya Jirga. Baradar and others favorably inclined to negotiations had accepted the invitation and promised to attend. It would shave heralded the much sought division of Shura and isolation of Mullah Omar led extremists least interested in negotiations either with Karzai or USA before complete withdrawal of foreign forces. In the estimate of Afghan-Indian experts and some US think tanks, 80% of Taliban and lower ranking leaders being moderate would have ditched Omar in return for monetary gains. Such an arrangement though wishful suits USA since it would allow it to execute its exit safely and on a winning note and to leave behind friendly regime ready to safeguard its regional interests.

The US is somehow taking the event lightly since it doesn’t want to expose itself as a party to the scheme in which Pakistan was to be left out in future parleys. It lauded Pakistan for the arrests made but kept asking Pakistani officials to hand over arrested Afghans or allow FBI to carryout exclusive interrogation of Baradar, or hand them over to Afghan authorities. The US officials as well as Karzai applied extreme pressure on Pakistan to hand over Baradar to his country of origin. For a change, the pressure was not coercive but soft and friendly.

In order to put at rest Pakistan’s apprehension that the captive would be put in notorious Baghram Base prison, it was reported that the base was being handed over to Afghan forces. As Pakistan was about to wilt, Pakistan law court saved the situation by ruling that he cannot be extradited. To appease USA, FBI was allowed to carryout joint interrogation of Baradar. The US smelt the *** that Karzai in league with India was trying to play a fast one by trying to establish direct communication with QS at his own to gain political strength and forge independent formula different to the one formulated by USA. India, finding itself at a loss, made a last ditch effort to salvage the situation.

Manmohan Singh air dashed to Riyadh in white heat to seek Saudi King’s assistance in establishing contacts with reconcilable members of Taliban Shura and to press Pakistan to restrict its talks with India on terrorism only since India was the victim of terrorism. He lamented that Pakistan was promoting terrorism and sabotaging peace efforts in Afghanistan. The US played its part from behind the curtains to make Saudi leadership cede to Indian requests. It was when Manmohan returned empty handed that reality dawned upon USA that Pakistan and not India was the key to Afghan tangle. Ouster of India from Tehran and Istanbul conferences by neighbors of Afghanistan and India having no say in London Conference further reinforced this impression.

When Karzai’s dramatics failed to befool Pakistan, a new plan was put into action. Col retired Imam, a former ISI officer and Consul General in Kabul had earned fame during Afghan jihad against Soviets and also lasting friendship of Pashtun Afghans.

He has staunchly defended the cause of Afghan Taliban but had some reservations about TTP. Recently he made some anti-TTP statements which miffed TTP leaders particularly Maulvi Nazir heading Ahmadzai Wazir tribe in SW. Exploiting their resentment, Karzai conveyed a message to Mulla Nazir through his contacts among Taliban to kidnap some important personalities. Nazir invited Col retired Imam and Air Commodore Khalid Khwaja, also former ISI officer to visit SW and play his part in restoring peace.

The two undertook a visit to Angoor Adda in first week of March without informing the authorities or taking clearance. They assured their hosts that they will convey their point of view and they will act as spokesmen of Mehsuds while negotiating a peace deal. On their next trip in last week of March they were made hostages. In all probability they have been whisked to Afghanistan.

Their capture has strengthened the hands of Karzai since he is now in a stronger bargaining position to demand release of Baradar and others in return for their liberation of two captive ISI officers. The two captives are held in high esteem of Afghans for their services rendered and it is least likely that any physical harm will come to them.

However, in case Blackwater is involved in kidnapping, their life is in danger. Some undesirable stories on their behalf could be fed to the media to malign Pak Army and ISI.

Mystery behind sudden interest in Taliban Shura | Asian Tribune

This is highly interesting and seems plausible.

 

[mughaljee]

what is the latest position ?

 

[EjazR]

Captors of former ISI officials, journalist present new demands

Thursday, April 29, 2010
Mushtaq Yusufzai

PESHAWAR: The self-styled militant organisation, Asian Tigers, which has been holding hostage two former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officers and a journalist, came up with new demands Wednesday for the release of the kidnapped men.

About four days ago, it had approached former Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz parliamentarian from Kohat, Javed Ibrahim Paracha, and sought his role in negotiations between the government and their group for the release of the two retired military officers, Col (R) Sultan Amir commonly known as Col Imam and Squadron Leader (R) Khalid Khwaja, and a British journalist Assad Qureshi.

The three men had gone to the volatile North Waziristan tribal region on March 26 to work on a documentary about Taliban. They went missing and an unknown organisation, Asian Tigers, believed to be run by a banned militant organisation of the Punjabi Taliban claimed responsibility for their kidnapping.

A spokesman for Asian Tigers, Ali Raza then called Paracha in Kohat and requested him to negotiate between the group and the government. Paracha has consented to their offer but had made it clear that before talks, he would like to know about the group, its leadership and demands for the release of the three men.

Also, Paracha said he had asked the group’s spokesman to give him tribal or Taliban guarantors before initiating negotiations. The spokesman had promised him he would provide him the required information within two days.

“The spokesman, Ali Raza presented new demands on Wednesday and said they wanted release of some prisoners in Adiala jail in Rawalpindi. Again I asked him to give me information about his organisation and its leadership, and also give me some guarantors for talks in North Waziristan,” explained Paracha when reached by phone at his home in Kohat city.

Paracha said the spokesman promised he would try to provide all the information to him in a day or two. He said he gave some names of senior Pakistani and Afghan Taliban commanders to the spokesman and told him he was willing to mediate if anyone among them agreed to become his guarantors.

Paracha said he informed the spokesman about the legal battle he had already started for the release of Punjabi militants languishing in Adiala jail in Rawalpindi. “I told him I have been fighting a legal battle for 165 prisoners, majority of them Punjabi Taliban,” said Paracha.

Besides them, he said he has been fighting legal battle for the release of several other prisoners held in Kot Lakhpat and Sargodha prisons.

Paracha, who is chairman of the World Prisoners Relief Commission of Pakistan, claimed he had so far secured release of around 3,500 foreign nationals including people from the United States, Germany, France, Switzer-land and Arab countries and sent them to their home countries.

Most of these foreign nationals were held in Pakistan for their alleged association with al-Qaeda or other militant groups and were languishing in Pakistani prisons. Meanwhile, credible sources told this scribe that a two-member jirga, one of them belonging to Jamiat Ulema-

e-Islam-Fazal group, has also reached Miramshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan, to make efforts for the release the three kidnapped men.

“The two-member jirga came to us and sought our assistance for the recovery of the three men. We are al-ready working hard for their release as we have friendship with one of the kidnapped men,” said a senior Taliban commander, wishing not to be named.

He said his men had collected some information about the militant group holding hostage the three men, which indicated it could be a faction of 10-12 armed men comprising Punjabi and Mahsud militants.

 

[air marshal]

MIRANSHAH: Former Intelligence officer of ISI Khalid Khwaja who was kidnapped earlier, has been found dead from North Waziristan Agency. - AFP