Mehmood Khan Achakzai. PHOTO: FILE
Islamabad has sought the extradition of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Mullah Fazlullah from Afghanistan and the dismantlement of the militant group’s hideouts in the Kunar and Nuristan provinces, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The request for the extradition of Pakistan’s most wanted man was made by Mehmood Khan Achakzai – the chief of Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) – on behalf of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a meeting with Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai in Kabul on Wednesday, a well-informed government official said.
The Foreign Office (FO) confirmed Achakzai visited Afghanistan as a special envoy of the prime minister to seek Kabul’s cooperation in eliminating terrorism. He was also accompanied by Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry.
When contacted, Achakzai refused to comment on the visit.
But the government official familiar with the development told The Express Tribune that Pakistan had requested the Karzai administration to end support for the TTP and extradite the group’s fugitive chief, who is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan.
The official, who asked to remain anonymous, said Pakistan had compelling evidence suggesting that Fazlullah and other TTP commanders were enjoying the ‘patronage’ of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency.
Afghanistan’s support is very crucial for the success of the operation in North Waziristan. They need to dismantle TTP’s sanctuaries on their soil. They must stop supporting Fazlullah,” one security official said.
Following Achakzai’s visit to Kabul, Karzai telephoned Premier Nawaz and discussed anti-terror cooperation between the two countries.
According to a statement by Karzai’s office, Prime Minister spoke to the Afghan president again on Thursday and “discussed the results of talks held with the Pakistani delegation.”
“The Pakistani premier agreed that both countries should jointly fight with all terrorists. Safe havens of terrorists should be dismantled and there should be a roadmap to coordinate the joint struggle,” the statement said, adding an Afghan delegation, carrying a special letter from Karzai, would visit Islamabad soon.
Talking to reporters at her weekly news briefing, FO Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said Afghan authorities had assured Pakistan of cooperation.
President Karzai also underscored the need to coordinate with the anti-terror war strategy with all key regional players, the statement said, adding: “the Afghan President also called for extra care to avoid civilian casualties during the war on terror.”
It is not clear, however, whether this means the Karzai administration is willing to extradite Fazlullah and destroy TTP hideouts in Afghanistan.
It is believed the Afghan intelligence agency is providing refuge to TTP as a bargaining chip with regards to Pakistan on the issue of Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network, which allegedly has safe havens in Waziristan.
Pakistani authorities have assured Afghanistan that all militants, including the Haqqanis, will be targeted in the ongoing Operation Zarb-e-Azb. Army chief General Raheel Sharif has publicly directed security forces to eliminate all terrorists and their sanctuaries without any discrimination.
Pakistani embassy sources earlier said only Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry had met Karzai in Kabul. However, the FO later revealed Achakzai too visited Kabul from June 17 to 18 as a special envoy of the prime minister.
The PkMAP chief was sent after Prime Minister Nawaz spoke to the Afghan president on Monday and said he would send a special envoy to discuss the enhancing of border security for the operation in Waziristan.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 20th, 2014.
COMMENTS (41)
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Where is quetta shura ? where is mullah omar> why afghan tali bans are good and Pakistani are bad Taliban?... why Pak army not elimination Punjabi Taliban which is more dangerous then any type of talibs. Pakistan hiding the reality, and try to pressurized kabul for own mess.
@shahzad: With Ajit Doval as NSA we do not need your permission.
@Fahad: Get them from there like US did OBL.
@MissingLink: Close your eyes. u wont have proof.
"slamabad has sought the extradition of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Mullah Fazlullah from Afghanistan and the dismantlement of the militant group’s hideouts in the Kunar and Nuristan provinces"
Like India asks Pakistan. Has it taken any step? No.
I see ET is on a censoring campaign. You want him, give us Mullah Omar. Whats the difference?
Send Special forces and get them no need to ask them because we have the strength to neutralize anything.
If the kabul regime does not hand over Fazlullah things will get very tough for them, they are betting on the wrong horse(indians) who will not be able to help them in the times ahead.
@unbelievable: by this standard no body should complain if pakis are not able to catch and deport the terrorists wanted in India?
Pakistanis are a funny lot, they only see the world through ISPR propaganda machine, which propagates conspiracy theories about Afghanistan and India encircling Pakistan and Israel and USA(Yahood+Nussara) conspiring to defang Pakistan by stealing its nuclear assets.
Please wake up from your slumber and realize that you have been lied to for 67 years by your leaders. Accept the fact that neighbors will react to every act perpetrated by strategic assets of Pakistan's intelligence agencies and respond in kind.
There is ample proof of the existence of Haqqani Network and Quetta Shura operating out of Pakistani territories and therefore it behooves you to accept that this game was initiated by Pakistan. It's only fair that Pakistan reciprocates by extraditing the Haqqanis' and Mullah Omar and learn and realize that two can play this game.
@Newton's law;: how long you would keep ranting over the past.why don't encourage if the past follies are being tried to corrected. ?
@Zog: Mumbai was a Indian sponsored false flag operation
Don't you dare say that. Many like me were glued to my TV set for 3 days. We heard directives from Pakistan, saw all the evidence and came to the truth. If it helps you, read the US testimony of David Headley iwho was sent for reconnaissance for the Mumbai attacks.
@Zog: Wow, and where can we all read that Mumbai Terrorist attack was an "Indian sponsored false flag operation" as you suggest! We can all go to Wikipedia to read a detailed account of 26/11, along with scores of supporting references! We can even read the names of the 10 Pakistani terrorists and their Pakistani hometowns (which BTW the Pakistani "free" media has never bothered to investigate)! We have the testimony of convicted terrorist David Headley, Pakistani born who changed his name to blend into India with his American passport! And just what have you presented to support your delusion?????
@Bakhtiyar Ghazi Khan:
If i was you sir, I would be ashamed to appear on the streets of your home town, for blaming Afghanistan where your Pakhtun families from Pakistan have found refuge!
Rex Minor
@Raj - USA: India has utilised cross border terror as matter of state policy for decades Mukhti Bihani, LTTE, BLA etc It is occupying Kashmir in contravention of UN resolutions - has raped and killed thousands there It is massacred thousands of sikhs Its pupets in Afghnaistan will be exposed soon, and the Afghans will realise theyir animosity against Pakistan has been funded by foreign forces. It just has en effective PR / propaganda machine - thats all
@ModiFied: Mumbai was a Indian sponsored false flag operation, the cultprits are probably sitting in RAW offices in India. The poor sikhs were massacred by the Indian Army and many poopr sikh women raped and abused. Not sure where these alleged khalisitanis are. India sponsoring cross border terrorism as a matter of state policy is going to come back and haunt it.
@Umer You clap with two hands. Those 8 were not entirely innocent, not when you are blindly following orders of a sick foreigner who is inciting violence. A bad act leads to bad results. What police did is shameful but calling qadri supporters innocent is extending truth.
The loss of general election by so many losers is not being digested! Fair enough, but stop with this crap. NS got a lot of vote a lot more than any other party, would you please respect those of us (I personally travelled from aboard to Gujranwala) to vote for NS. What about millions of voters that voted PMLN in to power, what when they will come out in masses on streets.?
So catching Terrorist is as simple as requesting extradition ... wow ... maybe someone should inform the USA?
@Ch. Allah Daad:
Those who can killed 8 innocent unarmed people in broad daylight are obviously so cowards that even making a demand is such a big deal for them.
@Jamal: BTW, you somehow neglected to say just WHERE it is proven (many times!) that Afghanistan is supporting the TTP!!!! If you can't provide those credible references that you say exist then we all may have to conclude that you are just making this crap up!
India and Afghanistan puppet government should stop funding attacks on Pakistan and Afghans Pukhtoons. The issue of genocide of Pukhtoons should be brought against Afghan puppets, India, US, and NATO. We Pakistanis and Afghan Pukhtoons are sick of dying for these foreigners games.
I support my army and government 100%.
2nd submission, we have no other appropriate words
@Raj - USA
You are what we call klug sceiße!Pakistan Government has not asked for your agreement. : The American administration is operating the 'Prism' intelligence net work, which can monitor the terrorists activities and pinpoint the location of any person wanted on terrorist charges. They do not need to offer millions but simply ask Pakistan military and they will send them the man, the parliament in Pakistan is nothing more than a symbolic institution.
Rex Minor
@Munir Ahmad Kakar: @Ahmed:
You are not making fools of yourself; but are fools being ruled by two foolish leaders, one a civilian business man and the other from the military who is using the stregnth of his backbones but not of the large brain he was born with(Albert Einstein), and after having bombarded the entire plateau in the border region which had provided the natural protection, and displacing hundreds and thousands of people and their families, your two leaders are asking Afghanstan for the fugitive, the one who was wanted by the Afghan and American adminiistrations as well?
Rex Minor
@Jamal:
Forty percent of Air with mountains? Wait a minute, not too fast, it is not even five percent now? They have pulled out mostly out of Afghanistan?
Rex Minor
@Raj - USA, I agree with your observations. This war of attrition has to stop. But it is harder in a pseudo-democracy like Pakistan where the real power is in the hands of the security establishment. It is just not in their interest to weaken their hand by making peace with the neighbors. Their survival is in fomenting an environment of distrust and animosity. My take is that until that changes, this will go on. But given Pakistan's economic plight, this might not be possible for too long. Pakistan cannot afford a military of this size going into the future. We'll have to see how it pans out.
We make fools of ourselves in front of the world community by making such demands. People think we are joking because we host terrorists indulging in terror in neighbhouring countries and global terrorists like OBL.
Who would have thought that we would be pleading Afghanistan to extradite Taliban. Who those geniuses were to contrive this naive and fatuous strategy of ruling Afghanistan and onward Central Asia through proxies. We intentionally lost sight of the fact that every proxy has his own agenda. We are now constrained and compelled to eat a humble pie due to ill thought-out policies we pursued. TTP is the gift that those policy makers has given to Pakistan.
@hellodrsoul: The Plan B which you suggest was the Plan A so far. Plan A did not work. Hence the Plan B, which you have mistaken as Plan A!
You cannot go to your Plan B as it actually the Plan A. You ARE already on Plan B having exhausted your Plan A - something which you have not realised!! ;)
@Hamza: Pakistan has been using its consulates for terrorist activities against India for a long time. It used its Nepal Consulate to hijack the Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar in Dec. 1999 to free three of its terrorists from jails in India. Pakistan has been using its consulates in India to create trouble in Indian Kashmir and also to flood India with fake Indian currencies. Pakistan's consular officers regularly meet with Kashmir separatist groups right within India and they have been caught circulating counterfeit Indian currencies. Pakistan, in a bid to save "Tunda", a terrorist wanted by India, provided him Pakistani Passport when UAE authorities deported him to India. Hafiz Saeed, wanted by India, for whom US has placed a reward of $10 million is roaming freely in Pakistan and still carrying out his terror activities against India. Had Pakistan acted properly, even after Mumbai attacks, they would have built some trust.
Sheikh Rasheed and Imran Khan stand shoulder-to-shoulder on podium when Sheikh Rasheed honors Mulla Omar and calls him "Amir-ul-mumineen" of Afghanistan. Pakistan still has Mulla Baradar in its custody.
Even today, many in Pakistan say that Nawas Sharif should have met with Kashmiri separatist groups when he visited India for Modi's inauguration. Musharaf's Lawyer, Ahmed Raza Kasuri says that the army is bitter about Nawaz Sharif not meeting Kashmiri separatist groups in India.
Pakistan still protects many anti Iran groups that are freely operating in Pakistan. Even with China, Pakistan is protecting anti-china muslim terror groups and these groups are trained in Pakistan's territory itself. One reason Musharraf is in trouble today in Pakistan is because he took military action to flush out terrorists who had kidnaped Chinese.
Bottom line: No one is going to trust Pakistan until they see sincerity from Pakistan's own actions towards others, be it India, Afghanistan or Iran.
I agree that Afghanistan should hand-over mulla Fazullah to Pakistan and also that Pakistan should hand over Mulla Omar, Mulla Baradar and Haqqanis to Afghanistan. It was Pakistan that first started harboring terrorists of other countries in its territory and still continues to do so, and they should make the move first to create confidence in others that they have really changed.
@Jamal: 'Proven' by whom? And where is the proof??
@usman786: Any proof against the honorable Mullah?
Ironic but following sounds familiar: - "Anti-terrorism cooperation: Islamabad asks Kabul to extradite Fazlullah" can be read as " Anti-terrorism cooperation: New Delhi asks Islamabad to extradite Hafiz Saeed"
" Pakistan had compelling evidence suggesting that Fazlullah and other TTP commanders were enjoying the ‘patronage’ of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency" can be read as " India had compelling evidence suggesting that Saeed and other LeT/LeJ commanders were enjoying the ‘patronage’ of Pakistan’s intelligence agency"
"It is believed the Afghan intelligence agency is providing refuge to TTP as a bargaining chip with regards to Pakistan on the issue of Afghan " can be read as "It is believed the Pakistan intelligence agency is providing refuge to LeT/LeJ/Afghan TTP as a bargaining chip with regards to India on the issue of Kashmir/Afghanistan (stretegic depth)"
It is really ironic that Pakistan is still differentiating between good and bad Taliban (read: terrorists), so if some terrorist group (like LeT/LeJ) is important vis a vis India then it is considered good. Pakistan needs to understand that both good and bad Taliban carry guns and kill people who go against them. Unless Pakistan understands this South Asia will remain in turmoil.
@Najeebullah: Whole Nato and US forces are controlling only 40 percent of Afghanistan, Karzai is the president of Kabul and now you come up with your claims of Pakistan hosting Quetta Shura? Do you have ANY evidence? The fact that Afghanistan is supporting TTP has been PROVEN many times.
There is always Plan B. If Afghanistan cooperates, Pak Army means elimination of the Taliban and company and a new plan in works how to keep controlling Afghanistan... If they do not cooperate the Army will act differently and Afghanistan will be in trouble in the days to come.
@ModiFied: any proof against them?
i appreciate the observation of najeebulla,will pakistan take action against the mentors of taliban,who take pride in raising these killers
The real problem here is that no body trust Pakistan anymore, if Afghanistan extradite TTP leadership and stop patronizing them (which they are doing since a year or two) then will Pakistan also extradite Quetta Shura and Haqqani network and stop patronizing them which they are doing so since three decades??
Newton's law; For every action there is definitely a reaction, which is same in magnitude but opposite in direction. Similarly its quite common observation as you sown so shall you reap and history repeat itself at definite time and space. 1. "Pakistan had compelling evidence suggesting that Fazlullah and other TTP commanders were enjoying the ‘patronage’ of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency." 2. "Afghanistan’s support is very crucial for the success of the operation in North Waziristan. They need to dismantle TTP’s sanctuaries on their soil. They must stop supporting Fazlullah,” one security official said."
Pakistan now it least at the age of 66 must learn from the history and what the history has thought them. Must respect your Nationals, their basic and constitutional rights and neighbors and their rights.
Karzai is irrelevant, Pakistan should directly talk to Modi and ask him to abandon Indian terrorist groups TTP, BLA, BRA and so-called "Indian consulates" in Afghanistan.
Appreciated...It really needs very strong nerves to make such demands.
How about sending Mullah Omar and his gang back to Afghanistan ? How about some Khalistanis still sitting in Pakistan and ofcourse the Mubai 26/11 master mind Hafiz Saeed who carries million dollar booty on his head ? Charity must begin from home.