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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan's Godfather of the Taliban dies |
| 2011-01-24 |
| A retired Pakistani spy known as "the godfather of the Taliban" has died in captivity in Pakistan's north-western tribal belt, 10 months after he was kidnapped with a British journalist working for Channel 4. Pakistani news channels reported that Sultan Amir Tarar, a legendary figure in the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency, had been killed by militants in Waziristan. The Taliban issued a statement saying he had died of a heart attack. An army spokesman could not confirm the reports. But a senior officer said that "all indicators are that this unfortunate incident took place". Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to the US, tweeted yesterday: "On Col (R) Amir Sultan Tarar aka Col Imam's death: Prayers for the departed and for the bereaved family." Tarar was kidnapped in Waziristan in March 2010 alongside Asad Qureshi, a British journalist of Pakistani origin, and Khalid Khawaja, a former ISI official turned human rights activist. Qureshi was released last September, reportedly on payment of a ransom; Khawaja was killed by his captors in April. Tarar's death marks the brutal demise of one of the most colourful and controversial figures in the shadowy world of spy games along the troubled borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Dressed in his trademark outfit of a tight, white turban and a shabby second-world war paratroop jacket, Tarar personified the complexities of Pakistan's multi-faceted policy towards militant Islam. Tarar trained in guerrilla warfare at an American special forces base in the 1970s and spent the next decade at the heart of Pakistan and America's covert war against Soviet forces occupying Afghanistan. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #3 Asia Times take on the death/killing. Army poised over peace broker's fate |
| Posted by: tipper 2011-01-24 08:36 |
| #2 "Dr. Frankenstein killed by the monster he helped create" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-01-24 08:31 |