The waiting game: Freed prisoners in Pakistan not home yet, says Afghan Taliban

No one handed over to Afghan Embassy or consulate so far.

ISLAMABAD:

None of the Afghan Taliban prisoners freed by the Pakistani government have reached their homes yet, said a Taliban source on Wednesday.

Moreover, neither have the freed militants been handed over to the Afghanistan Embassy in Islamabad nor to the country’s diplomatic missions in Pakistani provincial capitals.

Pakistan released a group of seven Afghan Taliban prisoners on Saturday to “further facilitate the Afghan reconciliation process,” as described by a foreign ministry statement.

Pakistani officials had informed families of some of the freed Taliban members earlier this year and in November last year about their release. But the families of the latest set of freed prisoners have been not informed, he told The Express Tribune. “None of the freed inmates have rejoined their families or contacted them.”

During the last ten months, 33 detained Taliban members have been released in Pakistan.



The Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman, Janan Mosazai, said in Kabul on Sunday that none of the freed Taliban men had been handed over either to the Afghanistan Embassy in Islamabad or any Consulate.

Pakistan had started the process to release the Afghan Taliban prisoners on the request made by the Afghanistan government and its High Peace Council in November last year.

The latest list of the Taliban prisoners included the name of key commander Mansoor Dadullah, the brother of Mullah Dadullah Akhund, the Taliban senior commander who was killed by American and British troops in southern Afghanistan in May 2007.

In February 2008, Mansoor Dadullah was arrested by Pakistani security forces in Balochistan along with some of his colleagues. He had differences with leadership following the murder of his brother.

However, a source told The Express Tribune that he had reconciled with the Taliban during detention.

The lucky 7

1. Mansoor Dadullah, a key Taliban commander, was arrested in February 2008 in Balochistan. He is the brother of Mullah Dadullah, a senior commander killed in southern Afghanistan in May 2007

2. Sayed Wali had served as the Taliban chief of Khogiani and Achin districts of eastern Nangarhar province following the dissolution of Taliban government. He was arrested in Peshawar two years ago.

3. Abdul Manan, alias Mullah Salam, served as the shadow governor of the northern Kunduz province after the Taliban fell at the centre. He was arrested in Peshawar three years ago. He hails from Kandahar, the Taliban birthplace.

4. Gul Mohammad, arrested more than six years ago in Pakistan, had served as the shadow governor of Kunar.

5. Mohammad Zai served as Kandahar’s shadow governor. He was arrested in Quetta.

6. Sher Afzal, a native of the eastern province of Nangarhar, had been affiliated with Hizb-e-Islami and its founder Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. He had no association with the Taliban as such.

7. Karim Agha, the son of famous religious scholar Shaikh Abdullah Zakeri, was arrested in Quetta two years ago.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th, 2013.