Pakistan denies man hanged by Taliban was one of its spies

DG ISPR says news is 'totally baseless' and person in video is neither a serving soldier nor an intelligence...


Reuters October 06, 2015
PHOTO: AFP

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan military denied on Monday that a man shown being hanged in videos released by the Taliban was one of its intelligence officers, as the insurgents had claimed.

In footage released on Sunday, the militant group hanged a man who identified himself as belonging to a Pakistan Army unit and said he had been recruited by the country's military intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence.

The videos were provided by a Taliban commander in the mountainous border region of North Waziristan who is known to Reuters. He did not comment on when or where the video was shot.

Read: Brazen assault: Bloodbath at airbase

"It is totally baseless news," military spokesperson General Asim Bajwa said in a statement.

"The person shown in the video is neither a serving soldier nor an intelligence official."

A senior government official said that according to intelligence reports, the man who was hanged was an Afghan national who had crossed over into Pakistan a few years ago and been kidnapped by the Taliban.

"When his family did not pay ransom, he was hanged," the official said, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media about the case.

Read: PAF base attack planned in Afghanistan: DG ISPR

The Taliban often claim responsibility for incidents in which they were not involved, and are known to exaggerate fatality figures for attacks on army convoys in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

Pakistan reinstated the death penalty last December after Taliban gunmen massacred 134 schoolchildren.

"The hanging ... is our response to the Pakistani government who are busy hanging our group members," a masked man in one of the two videos said into the camera. "This is just the beginning and all those who are in our custody or those who have any links with the Pakistan government will face the same treatment."

Read: Pakistan military ranked 11th strongest in world

Taliban violence in Pakistan has fallen overall since the military launched an offensive in North Waziristan in June 2014. But the militants have demonstrated that they are still able to carry out sophisticated attacks, including one on an air base that killed 39 people last month.

COMMENTS (8)

Rabia | 8 years ago | Reply We don't care and we support our army to the end of this menace that's being spread mostly by our neighboring countries. Pak Fauj Zindabad
whatever | 8 years ago | Reply once a time ago they created and boasted of splitting USSR, today they are popping their own pills and its very bitter in taste.
VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ