Detained in Afghanistan: Tribal jirga returns to Pakistan today

They were held on terrorism charges by Kabul; visited Paktika to resolve dispute

ISLAMABAD:

Twenty-nine members of a tribal jirga or council of elders who were arrested in Afghanistan on charges of terrorism will return to Pakistan today (Tuesday).

The jirga members were handed over to the Pakistan Embassy in Kabul on Sunday. They reportedly travelled from Balochistan’s Zhob division to Afghanistan’s Paktika province in order to resolve a land dispute but the Afghan authorities accused them of crossing the border with the intent of carrying out terrorist attacks, Afghan and Pakistani officials said.

Tribesmen say they routinely travel across the Pakistan-Afghan border and they do not need passports or visas to do so. The jirga members were held for 14 days and, after an investigation, the Afghan interior ministry said the men did not pose a threat to security.

A naib tehsildar, Abdul Salam, from the Musa Khel area in Zhob division was leading the jirga. He carried a letter from the deputy commissioner of the area and another local official accompanied the jirga. However, Afghan border force commander Amanullah Khan arrested the jirga members. Amanullah Khan had lived in Zhob district for nearly 30 years as a refugee, and his children studied in Pakistan.

“The group, travelling in a four-vehicle-convoy that included a military vehicle, was halted by Afghan police while entering. Afghan officials found in the men’s possession AK47 assault rifle, handguns, and a Motorola transmission radio,” the Afghan interior ministry had said in a statement. “This is one of the biggest arrests of armed Pakistani militants with ID cards of military and militant groups,” the Afghan ministry had claimed.

“The elders were sent blindfolded to Kabul in three Afghan military helicopters for interrogation by Afghan intelligence agencies. They had been in detention for nearly 10 days,” Afghan sources told The Express Tribune on Monday. Afghan intelligence officials also released a photograph of the group to the media.

The Express Tribune has learned that the Pakistani jirga members informed commander Amanullah’s brother Dr Ghulam about the jirga’s intentions and sought his mediation.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2014.