|
No
Asylum For Taliban Leaders
 |
| No
asylum for Zaeef
|
By IslamOnline correspondent in Islamabad Aamir Latif
ISLAMABAD, Jan. 1 (IslamOnline) - Squeezed by U.S. pressure, Pakistan has formally refused to grant political asylum to various Taliban leaders and their families following the fall of the militia government in Afghanistan, top foreign offices sources told IslamOnline on Monday December 31.
The Taliban leaders, who had applied for political asylum last month, include former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, former Counsel General in Karachi, Maulvi Rehmatullah Kakazada, Counsel General in Quetta, Maulvi Faizullah, and a few former ministers.
The asylum seekers fear that they would be subjected to harsh treatment by the incumbent government comprising arch-rivals of the Taliban, sources said.
“The foreign office has turned down the requests of Taliban leaders seeking political asylum in Pakistan and it has also been notified to the asylum seekers”, a top foreign office official said, preferring to remain anonymous.
The requests of respective Taliban leaders have been turned down on security grounds, because, the official claimed, if asylum is granted to these “people”, hundreds more-Taliban and their rivals (mostly Pushtoons) - would also apply for asylum.
“The presence of rival groups may create a law and order problem, particularly in the country’s border areas,” he added.
Hundreds of people are reported to have been killed in armed clashes between the rival groups of Afghan refugees residing in refugee camps in Pakistan since 1980.
In reply to a question, the official admitted that the U.S. also wanted Pakistan not to grant asylum to Taliban leaders. However, he said that Pakistan would not ask those Taliban leaders, who had been in the country before the fall of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, to leave the country immediately, considering the deteriorating law and order situation in the war-ravaged country.
"As soon as the newly established government announces a clear policy as regards amnesty to the Taliban leaders, except Mullah Omar, Pakistan would ask them to leave the country," the official said.
Asked about the fate of other Taliban leaders or troops who managed to escape into neighboring Pakistan after the collapse of the 5-year long militia’s government, the official said “ they would be arrested and dealt as per country’s law”.
He refused to say whether the Taliban to be arrested would be handed over to the present Afghan government stating that “it is a matter to be seen. We have not taken any definitive decision in this regard”.
The foreign office has also rejected the application of the family members of former Commander-in-Chief of the Taliban forces, Commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, seeking political asylum in Pakistan, sources said.
Even before the official rejection of their application, secret agents had raided the temporary residence of Haqqani at Mohmind Agency, a tribal area near Peshawar that borders with Afghanistan, on a tip-off regarding the presence of the veteran guerilla commander there.
Haqqani was not present and Commander Haqqani’s family shifted its temporary residence to an unknown place after the raid, area residents said.
|
