By Mushtaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR: The self-styled militant organisation, Asian Tigers, which has been holding hostage two former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officers and a journalist, came up with new demands Wednesday for the release of the kidnapped men.
About four days ago, it had approached former Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz parliamentarian from Kohat, Javed Ibrahim Paracha, and sought his role in negotiations between the government and their group for the release of the two retired military officers, Col (R) Sultan Amir commonly known as Col Imam and Squadron Leader (R) Khalid Khwaja, and a British journalist Assad Qureshi.
The three men had gone to the volatile North Waziristan tribal region on March 26 to work on a documentary about Taliban. They went missing and an unknown organisation, Asian Tigers, believed to be run by a banned militant organisation of the Punjabi Taliban claimed responsibility for their kidnapping.
A spokesman for Asian Tigers, Ali Raza then called Paracha in Kohat and requested him to negotiate between the group and the government. Paracha has consented to their offer but had made it clear that before talks, he would like to know about the group, its leadership and demands for the release of the three men.
Also, Paracha said he had asked the group’s spokesman to give him tribal or Taliban guarantors before initiating negotiations. The spokesman had promised him he would provide him the required information within two days.
“The spokesman, Ali Raza presented new demands on Wednesday and said they wanted release of some prisoners in Adiala jail in Rawalpindi. Again I asked him to give me information about his organisation and its leadership, and also give me some guarantors for talks in North Waziristan,” explained Paracha when reached by phone at his home in Kohat city.
Paracha said the spokesman promised he would try to provide all the information to him in a day or two. He said he gave some names of senior Pakistani and Afghan Taliban commanders to the spokesman and told him he was willing to mediate if anyone among them agreed to become his guarantors.
Paracha said he informed the spokesman about the legal battle he had already started for the release of Punjabi militants languishing in Adiala jail in Rawalpindi. “I told him I have been fighting a legal battle for 165 prisoners, majority of them Punjabi Taliban,” said Paracha.
Besides them, he said he has been fighting legal battle for the release of several other prisoners held in Kot Lakhpat and Sargodha prisons.
Paracha, who is chairman of the World Prisoners Relief Commission of Pakistan, claimed he had so far secured release of around 3,500 foreign nationals including people from the United States, Germany, France, Switzer-land and Arab countries and sent them to their home countries.
Most of these foreign nationals were held in Pakistan for their alleged association with al-Qaeda or other militant groups and were languishing in Pakistani prisons. Meanwhile, credible sources told this scribe that a two-member jirga, one of them belonging to Jamiat Ulema-
e-Islam-Fazal group, has also reached Miramshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan, to make efforts for the release the three kidnapped men.
“The two-member jirga came to us and sought our assistance for the recovery of the three men. We are al-ready working hard for their release as we have friendship with one of the kidnapped men,” said a senior Taliban commander, wishing not to be named.
He said his men had collected some information about the militant group holding hostage the three men, which indicated it could be a faction of 10-12 armed men comprising Punjabi and Mahsud militants.
Source: The News
Date:4/29/2010
