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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Hakeemi sez Omar's using a satellite phone |
| 2005-10-06 |
| A detained Taleban spokesman has told Pakistani interrogators that the militiaâs fugitive chief, Mullah Mohammed Omar, is hiding in Afghanistan and remains in contact with top commanders, an intelligence official said yesterday. Abdul Latif Hakeemi, who has often claimed responsibility on behalf of the Taleban for attacks on US-led coalition forces, was arrested in Balochistan province, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said. Hakeemi was not a prominent figure in the Taleban while the militia was in power in Afghanistan, only becoming a media contact after the ouster of the movement in a US-led war in 2001. His exact ties to the Taleban leadership are unclear. âSo far, he has told interrogators that Mullah Omar is alive, he is in Afghanistan and he remains in contact with senior aides by satellite phone,â said the intelligence official, who was involved in the raid to arrest Hakeemi in Quetta. The official declined to be named because of the secretive nature of his job. Some Pakistani officials said Hakeemi was arrested on Tuesday, but the intelligence official said he was detained on Sunday at a home in Quettaâs Newi Killi neighbourhood. Hakeemiâs arrest was not announced because he was being interrogated about other Taleban leaders, the official said. Four âlow-levelâ aides of Hakeemi were arrested from several other homes in Newi Killi, the official said. Intelligence agents seized two satellite phones, two Pakistani mobile phones, Taleban literature, audio cassettes and CDs containing films of Taleban operations, he said. Pakistani officials described Hakeemi as a Taleban spokesman. But information from Hakeemi in the past has sometimes proven exaggerated or untrue. Afghan and US military officials say he is believed to speak for factions of the rebel group. The United States and Afghanistan welcomed Hakeemiâs arrest but there has been no word on whether Washington would seek his custody. âWe are grateful to the country of Pakistan for their successful capture of Abdul Latif Hakeemi,â said Colonel Jim Yonts, a US military spokesman in the Afghan capital. Afghanistan welcomed Hakeemiâs arrest. Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have sometimes been strained because of Afghan suspicions that rebels are using Pakistan as a staging area for cross-border attacks. Pakistan denies it. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #4 I agree Balochistan is logical. A Time reporter on the trail of Bin Laden said long ago he thought he had teamed up with these nomadic tribes, as they must harbor anyone who asks, and deny everything. The camel jockeys follow the ancient smuggling routes into Iran and even into Saudi Arabia in difficult terrain that Bin Laden favors. Same reporter that did a piece on AQ Khan, with more information than the government seemed to have. |
| Posted by: Danielle 2005-10-06 16:33 |
| #3 And you go up and you are in the moon. I am not saying you are wrong but you let out some very important factors: first the fact Balochistan borders at lot of countries is only a factor. Another one is the easyness of going there: only a road bordered by unpassable ground or lots of them and easy to travel off-road? Attitude of the authorities and of the Balochss: from a (short) journey around their websites I got the impression that they were far less prone to adopt salafist and taliban-like doctrines than Pashtoons (could be wrong) |
| Posted by: JFM 2005-10-06 09:13 |
| #2 VERY INTERESTING. Someone correct me, but Hakeemi wasn't supposed to be in Balochistan... he was always suspected of being somewhere in NWFP, or closer to the Hindu Kush mountain range in NE Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan. I've been thinking for a while that Balochistan is the logical place for a lot of these fugitives to be. You go North, and you're in Afghanistan. You go West, and you're in Iran. Go NE, and you're in Waziristan which isn't well-controlled and further NE you get into the NWFP. Go East, and you can reach Pakistan. To the south is the Indian Ocean, which is another line of communication. |
| Posted by: Phil Fraering 2005-10-06 01:37 |
| #1 remains in contact with senior aides by satellite phone Bullshit. Would've been vapor by now. Chechens learned quickly NOT to use satellite phones when bombs started falling on their heads almost immediately after such use. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2005-10-06 00:55 |