Fugitive TTP chief: Gen Raheel didn’t ask for Fazlullah handover, says Afghan army chief
Army spokesperson says Gen Raheel had shared vital elements of intelligence with concerned authorities
ISLAMABAD:
Afghan army chief General Sher Muhammad Karimi said on Friday that his Pakistani counterpart General Raheel Sharif has not asked for handing over of the fugitive chief of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Mullah Fazlullah, who is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan.
General Raheel and ISI chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar visited Kabul on December 17, a day after the deadly Taliban attack on the Army Public School and College in Peshawar. Gen Raheel had shared “vital elements of intelligence with concerned authorities, with regard to the Peshawar incident,” the army spokesman had said.
However, the Afghan army chief said that the top Pakistani military officials didn’t ask for custody of Mullah Fazlullah. “They didn’t mention Mullah Fazlullah. He doesn’t live in Afghanistan and we are not sheltering him,” Gen Karimi told a local Radio channel in Afghanistan.
“We have a long and porous border, so it is possible he might be operating from both sides of the border like other terrorists. But he is always on the run. We have never sheltered terrorists and will never do so,” he said referring to Mullah Fazlullah.
Pakistan believes the TTP chief has regrouped his fighters on the Afghan side of the border and operates from there “We’ve reached the conclusion that Kabul and Islamabad should unite in the fight against terrorism,” Gen Karimi said.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 20th, 2014.
Afghan army chief General Sher Muhammad Karimi said on Friday that his Pakistani counterpart General Raheel Sharif has not asked for handing over of the fugitive chief of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Mullah Fazlullah, who is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan.
General Raheel and ISI chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar visited Kabul on December 17, a day after the deadly Taliban attack on the Army Public School and College in Peshawar. Gen Raheel had shared “vital elements of intelligence with concerned authorities, with regard to the Peshawar incident,” the army spokesman had said.
However, the Afghan army chief said that the top Pakistani military officials didn’t ask for custody of Mullah Fazlullah. “They didn’t mention Mullah Fazlullah. He doesn’t live in Afghanistan and we are not sheltering him,” Gen Karimi told a local Radio channel in Afghanistan.
“We have a long and porous border, so it is possible he might be operating from both sides of the border like other terrorists. But he is always on the run. We have never sheltered terrorists and will never do so,” he said referring to Mullah Fazlullah.
Pakistan believes the TTP chief has regrouped his fighters on the Afghan side of the border and operates from there “We’ve reached the conclusion that Kabul and Islamabad should unite in the fight against terrorism,” Gen Karimi said.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 20th, 2014.