| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Mullah Omar wears shades, has trimmed beard, lives in Pakistan: ex-follower |
| 2008-07-01 |
| KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The notorious leader of the Taliban, one of the world's most wanted fugitives, has reportedly had a makeover and been sighted on numerous occasions in Pakistan. The one-eyed cleric Mullah Omar has significantly changed his appearance since he fled from his native Afghanistan seven years ago, says a former follower. Mullah Mohammed Zaher says he has personally met with the reclusive jihadist several times in Quetta, Pakistan. He says the Taliban founder has turfed his trademark turban, trimmed his beard and begun wearing sunglasses. Coupled with the fact that few pictures of him exist, Zaher says it would be difficult to pick Omar out of a crowd. 'He has totally changed his appearance,' says Zaher, a self-described Taliban commander under the former regime. 'He does not look like a Talib anymore. He does not even wear a turban.' Zaher says Omar has several safe houses in the Quetta area, and that he has eaten meals with him there more than once in recent years. 'I used to meet him. I have seen his home,' Zaher said through a Pashto-language interpreter. 'He used to call us over.' Zaher also lent support to a claim made five years ago by Afghan President Hamid Karzai about what the Taliban founder has been up to. He says Omar is now a religious imam and has led Friday prayer services at a mosque next to a medical clinic in Quetta's Saleem plaza. The Afghan president publicly declared in 2003 that his intelligence sources had informed him that Omar was seen praying at that mosque in the bustling plaza. Despite Karzai's claim, few reports have emerged since then about the fugitive mullah's whereabouts. 'We got a call about 10 days ago from our sources in Quetta that Mullah Omar was seen at a mosque near Saleem complex in the city,' Karzai told Newsline.com in December 2003. 'I know where the Saleem complex is. I have lived in Quetta myself for many years.' A U.S. intelligence source told CNN in 2006 that American officials believed Omar was in the Quetta area, and that at one point they had his whereabouts pinned down to a precise neighbourhood. Britain's Independent newspaper reported last year that Omar was being sheltered by Pakistan's intelligence services - a claim the Pakistani government vigorously denied. But Zaher says it's true. He says Omar has even spent the night on a military compound in the Nawakilli area near Quetta, where he says he and other militants received bomb-making lessons from members of the Pakistani army. Zaher escaped to Pakistan after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. He says he became tired of facing harassment and extortion from corrupt officials in the new Karzai government, and he moved his family to Quetta in 2003. He says old Taliban friends soon contacted him and put him in touch with Pakistani military officials, who trained him and paid him $500 a month to join the insurgency. He says he left the insurgency a little over two years ago, and moved back to Kandahar city's District Six. Zaher says he has not seen or spoken to Omar since then. When asked how it could be possible that the Americans would still be searching for Omar despite all these supposed sightings, Zaher grows cross. His voice rising to a near-shout, he lays out a cynical conspiracy theory that appears to be remarkably popular even among ordinary Afghans: 'Nobody wants to catch him!' |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #9 The US could play the Balochi independence card. McCain would likely do that, as President. |
| Posted by: McZoid 2008-07-01 21:20 |
| #8 J08! It's not too late. Ima hear from sources unstated that the Rev. Omar was seen in the company of an old meme. |
| Posted by: .5MT 2008-07-01 17:19 |
| #7 And the GEICO CAVEMEN??? Joe '84 |
| Posted by: RD 2008-07-01 12:21 |
| #6 He's a Micheal Savage double. Who is paying them again???? The Sauds. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-07-01 09:48 |
| #5 Its only 3 years , almost 4 that we have been tellin folk that Quetta is terrorism tourist capital of the world . And of course he and Binny are being protected by certain sections within the ISI. It makes financial sense for them to do this . |
| Posted by: Mad Eye 2008-07-01 09:23 |
| #4 He says Omar has even spent the night on a military compound in the Nawakilli area near Quetta, where he says he and other militants received bomb-making lessons from members of the Pakistani army. No surprise re Paki army involvement!!!!Who is paying them again???? |
| Posted by: Paul 2008-07-01 07:33 |
| #3 He says Omar is now a religious imam and has led Friday prayer services at a mosque next to a medical clinic in Quetta's Saleem plaza. Please note CIA as ISI wont do nothing!!! |
| Posted by: Paul 2008-07-01 07:20 |
| #2 HMMMM, SONG LYRICS > "I GOTTA WEAR SHADES" versus "I WEAR MY SUNGLASSES AT NIGHT". And the GEICO CAVEMEN??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-07-01 01:11 |
| #1 so some night at 3am .. why hasn't a military compound in the Nawakilli area had a bomb making accident? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-07-01 00:24 |