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Pakistan Seizes More Taliban Leaders' Assets
By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Oct 17 (IslamOnline) - In line with United Nations resolutions, Pakistan has frozen the bank accounts and assets, if any, of top Taliban leaders, apart from Osama bin Laden and his associates, being maintained in Pakistan, officials of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) told IslamOnline here Wednesday.
Under two recently issued separate circulars. The SBP has directed all private and government banks operating in Pakistan to freeze and then provide details of bank accounts and assets, if any, being maintained by 146 Taliban leaders and 10 Arabs, including Osama bin Laden and three Afghan business entities.
State Bank sources said the government had not seized bank accounts of all Afghans in Pakistan, but only the accounts and assets of Taliban leaders and Arabs, wanted by the U.S. on terrorism charges, had been frozen.
In pursuance to U.N. Resolution 1333, Arabs whose bank accounts and assets have been proposed to be seized include Osama bin Laden; his senior lieutenant, Mohammed Atif Aimen; the leader of Islamic Jihad (Egypt) Muhammad Rabi Al-Zawahiri; Saad Al-Alsharif, bin Laden's brother-in-law; Saif Al-Haq, an Egyptian national and thought to be responsible for bin Laden's security; Amin-ul-Haq, an Afghan who coordinates bin Ldaen's security; Ahmed Said al-Kadr (thought to be holding dual Egyptian and Canadian nationalities), a top-ranking leader Islamic Jihad (now Arabic Jihad Council) member; Saqar al-Jawadi, holding dual Lebanese and Saudi Arabian nationalities; Zain-ul-Abidin Hussain, holding Saudi, Palestinian and Jordanian nationalities, who happens to be a close bin Laden associate; and Bilal Bin Marwan.
Taliban leaders whose accounts and assets have been instructed to be frozen include, Taliban supreme leaders Mullah Muhammad Omer; Foreign Minister Abdul Wakeel Mutawakil; Minister for Border Affairs and Commander-in-Chief, Maulana Jalaluddin Haqqani; Governor Naganhaer Province, Haji Abdul Qadeer; Minister for Refugee Affairs, Mullah Allauddin; Defense Minister Mullah Hassan Akhud; and Air Force Chief Mullah Akhtar Mansoor.
State Bank sources did not elaborate within how many banks and the number of accounts those listed had been maintaining in Pakistan.
Pakistan has already frozen the bank accounts of Harkat-ul-Mujahiddin (Mujahiddin Movement) and Al-Rashid Trust, on charges of having links with the Taliban and bin Laden.
The two organizations, however, deny the charges.
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