Pakistan hunts Taliban fugitives

Pakistani security agencies are reported to be on the hunt for about 150 Taliban fugitives named on a list provided to officials in Islamabad by Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president.

Karzai (L) gave the list to Pakistani officials

President Karzai handed over the list to Pakistani officials during his trip to Islamabad last week, the English language newspaper Dawn quoted Aftab Khan Sherpao, the country’s interior minister, as saying.

“Yes, we have received a list of about 150 terrorists who are believed to be hiding in Pakistan,” Sherpao told the newspaper.

It was not immediately clear whose names were on the list.
Afghan officials have said that Mullah Omar, the Taliban chief, and scores of his associates are hiding near the Pakistan-Afghan border.

Pakistan, a former supporter of the Taliban but now a key US ally in the war on terror, has deployed thousands of troops along the Afghan border, and says it has done everything it can to flush out remnants of the Taliban regime and al-Qaida, and to prevent them from sneaking across the border.

Discussions

According to Pakistani officials, Karzai during his meetings with General Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, Shaukat Aziz, the Pakistani prime minister, and other officials had discussed how they could enhance cooperation in the war on terror.

Although some Afghan officials, who travelled with Karzai, had told some newsmen that they had given the list of about 150 suspects to Pakistan, no Pakistani or Afghan government spokesmen would confirm this on the record.

After returning home on Saturday, Karzai confirmed he had given the Pakistanis detailed information about suspects including their whereabouts.

“We have not given a list of 150 persons to anybody, but we have given some documents, … specific information about individuals and their locations and we are hopeful that measures should be taken from both sides – from their side and from our side,” he told reporters.

Source: News Agencies