Rabbani murder: Afghan probe team shares evidence with Islamabad

Rehman Malik says no one wanted in connection with the murder is in Pakistan.


Kamran Yousaf November 25, 2011

ISLAMABAD:


The visiting Afghan delegation investigating the assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani shared evidence with Pakistan on Thursday pertaining to the involvement of the Quetta Shura in the murder of the peace negotiator.


Senior Afghan intelligence officials shared evidence with their Pakistani counterparts regarding the involvement of the so-called Quetta Shura in the assassination; however, talks between the 14-member visiting delegation led by Afghan Deputy Intelligence Chief General Hassam Hassamuddin and Pakistani authorities are believed to have remained inconclusive as Islamabad has denied all charges of involvement.

The three-day visit by the delegation is being hosted by Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who held talks with the delegation. The delegation also met with senior Pakistani intelligence officials.

An Afghan diplomat, requesting anonymity, said that evidence linking the Rabbani’s assassination with the Quetta Shura was shared with Pakistani authorities and Afghan officials hoped Pakistan would arrest several Taliban figures, including a local commander who openly operates in Quetta on the border with Afghanistan’s Kandahar province.

But Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters that no one wanted in connection with the murder of Rabbani was present in Pakistan.

The assassination of the former Afghan president was one of the most high profile assassinations of an Afghan politician in recent months.

The murder of Rabbani, who was spearheading efforts to bring the Taliban on the negotiating table, strained relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Afghan security officials have publicly accused Pakistan’s top spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), of being behind the assassination, a charge Islamabad strongly denies.

According to a statement issued by the interior ministry, the Afghan delegation met the “concerned departments to discuss the matter pertaining to the assassination of former Afghan President Bhurhanddin Rabbani.” It did not say whether the Afghan intelligence officials had shared any evidence with the authorities.

Interior Minister Malik told the delegation that Pakistan is ready to extend all kinds of support to the Afghan government in its investigations into the incident, the statement added.

“The assassination of Prof Rabbani is also an irreparable loss for Pakistan,” he was quoted as telling the Afghan officials.

Earlier this month, Turkish President Abdullah Gul brokered a deal between Afghanistan and Pakistan at a trilateral summit in Istanbul, where the two agreed on a mechanism to probe the murder.

Separately, in a meeting with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in the Maldives, Afghan President Hamid Karzai refused to move forward until “Pakistan fully cooperates in the investigation of Rabbani’s murder.”

The decision to allow Afghan intelligence delegation to visit Pakistan is seen as unusual diplomatic gesture by Islamabad. The development comes less than two weeks before the key international conference on Afghanistan in the German city of Bonn. The success of the Bonn moot is considered to hinge on the success rate of Islamabad and Kabul sorting out their differences.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25th, 2011.

COMMENTS (1)

Moise | 12 years ago | Reply

Biggest beneficiary: US.

US policy crafted by Zbigniew Brzezinski is to use real Talibans against Pakistan. Don't believe me see him for yourself http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmVBgXEg4jA .

Pakistan national security should take heed of this fait accompli and learn that US is not our friend and never will be.

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