| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Taliban may be deported |
| 2005-01-31 |
| Senior former Taliban officials arrested in Balochistan and suspected of links to Al Qaeda will be handed over to Afghanistan if nothing can be proved against them, police said on Sunday. "If nothing is proved against them except living without any legal documents in Pakistan, they will be handed over to the Afghan government for being Afghan nationals," said Pervez Rafi Bhatti, the Quetta police chief. The 17 Afghan suspects were picked up by police in a swoop on Thursday on hideouts in Quetta in Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, AFP reported. AP quoted Bhatti as saying that the police had gleaned "useful" information from the suspects, but he would not give further details. He said six suspects were released late on Saturday after questioning proved they were Pakistanis with no links with the Taliban. A security official in Quetta, who asked not to be named, said on Saturday that the Taliban suspects were being interrogated to know where Mulla Omar was hiding. "The suspects are being questioned about their links to Al Qaeda," Bhatti said. Investigators have identified one detainee as Mulla Abdur Razzak but on Sunday still could not confirm whether he is the former Afghan interior minister of the same name during the Taliban's rule. The former deputy governor of southern Helmand province, Mulla Khush Dil, and ex-Kabul police chief Mulla Ibrahim were also among the arrested group. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |