Kidnap Saga of the Pakistani Spies

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...5193983515954508.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

By TOM WRIGHT And REHMAT MEHSUD

ISLAMABAD—A new video of a captive former Pakistani spy known for his alliance with the Taliban gave further evidence of divisions among Islamist militant groups under pressure from a Pakistani army offensive.

The local Geo Television Network broadcast a video Monday showing the senior former intelligence operative Sultan Amir Tarar, who is known as Col. Imam, along with another former spy and a British filmmaker. The three were kidnapped in late March while traveling in the Pakistani tribal region of South Waziristan, a mountainous area in which Taliban and al Qaeda fighters found refuge for years until the recent military offensive.

In the video, filmmaker Asad Qureshi, a British citizen who was in the tribal regions to make a documentary, says the three were being held hostage by an Islamist group called Asian Tiger. Intelligence experts said they were unfamiliar with the group.

Col. Imam identifies himself in the video as a former senior member of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence military spy agency. A second former ISI operative, Khalid Khawaja, also features in the video, which shows the three men, one at a time and from the waist up, speaking into the camera.

Col. Imam, a well-known figure in Pakistan who is regularly quoted in the Western media, is often cited as an example of the links that bind Pakistan's shadowy but powerful military intelligence world to the Taliban, which is fighting U.S. forces across the border in Afghanistan from bases just inside Pakistan's tribal belt.


Col. Imam was a strategist of the U.S.-backed Mujahedeen struggle against the Soviet Union in the 1980s and later helped recruit and train members of the ultrareligious Taliban movement, which took over Afghanistan in the mid-1990s.

His kidnapping raised eyebrows in Pakistan because of his close association with militant Islam. Col. Imam operated in the tribal regions for decades, recruiting and training Islamic fighters.

His abduction shows how fragmented the Taliban-inspired insurgency in the tribal regions has become, said Hamid Gul, a former head of the ISI.

In the video, Mr. Khawaja says he was sent to the region by Mr. Gul and a former army chief, though he doesn't say why. Mr. Gul denied he was involved in the expedition.

Mr. Gul said Col. Imam remains popular with the Taliban fighting in Afghanistan, who wouldn't want to kidnap him. But there are a number of other local jihadi groups in the tribal regions, including the Pakistan Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, that are focused on attacking Pakistan's government and may have planned the action, he added.

The Pakistan Taliban and other homegrown jihadis are under intense pressure from the Pakistan military operation, which is aided by U.S. drone strikes, that has killed many of their senior leaders in the past year. The insurgents, in turn, have attempted to sow chaos inside Pakistan through bombing government, military and civilian targets.

On Monday, militants struck again, killing at least 25 people in a bomb attack on a crowded market area in Peshawar, a town in the northwest of the country which is the gateway to the tribal regions. The city was hit earlier Monday by an attack on a school funded by the police, leaving a young boy dead.

It remains unclear what Col. Imam was doing in the tribal regions. Mr. Qureshi, the British filmmaker, may have hired the two former ISI officers to guide him in South Waziristan, which remains dangerous despite the successful military offensive.

A senior Pakistan military official said both former members of ISI were operating in the tribal regions in a private capacity and weren't engaged in secret peace talks with insurgents, as some Pakistani media reports have suggested.
 

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CIA accused of ordering kidnap of former Pakistani spy

The CIA has been accused of ordering the kidnapping of a former Pakistani intelligence officer, who turned human rights campaigner to defend al-Qaeda suspects.

Rob Crilly, in Islamabad
Published: 5:31PM BST 20 Apr 2010
The wife of Khalid Khawaja claims that her husband, who was once a confidante of Osama bin Laden, was taken at the request of the American intelligence service as he travelled through Pakistan's lawless tribal belt.

On Monday a group calling itself the Asian Tigers released videos of Mr Khawaja, and the colleague he was captured with, saying that they were in "Taliban custody" and demanding the release of arrested militant leaders.

The kidnapping has baffled analysts who believe the two men were instrumental in fostering close ties between Pakistan's intelligence agencies and radical Islamist groups.

Yesterday his wife, Shamama Khalid, said she did not believe her husband had been captured by the Taliban.

"We heard some groups there are supported by the CIA," she said. "My husband is against this American war so maybe the Americans want to remove him from the fray."

Mr Khawaja was taken along with Colonel Amir Sultan, known as Colonel Imam, as they travelled through North Waziristan, a mountainous region of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan.

Colonel Imam, a guerrilla warfare specialist, worked with the CIA in the 1980s, training thousands of Afghan Mujahideen in their fight against the Soviets. He remained close to the Taliban once they took power, meeting frequently with its leader Mullah Omar.

The video showed the hostages introducing themselves as former officers of the feared Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.

It was emailed to news organisations with a demand for the release of several militant leaders, including Mullah Baradar, who was believed to be second in command of the Afghan Taliban when he was arrested in Karachi earlier this year.

Since leaving the ISI, Khawaja has styled himself as a human rights campaigner. He has defended al-Qaeda suspects and fought attempts to extradite Mullah Baradar to Afghanistan. The two men have been missing since March 26.

Shashama Khalid said she was deeply worried about her husband's safety after seeing the video.

"He was very weak, as if he had been tortured and spoke in a low voice," she said. Pakistan's ISI agency was instrumental in guiding the Taliban to power in Afghanistan during the 1990s.

A spokesman for the American embassy said: "If the allegation is that the US was involved in the abduction of these individuals, then I can say that is baseless and patently untrue."
CIA accused of ordering kidnap of former Pakistani spy - Telegraph
 

ajtr

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There is other side of the story too.The pick up of Col. Imam and Khalid Khwaja is a big deal.a very big deal. Of course, it has to be the ISI, the US, or the TTP. . To add a few nuggets:

1.Squadron Leader (Retd) Khalid Khawaja was also no insignificant slouch in the Jihadi Islamic terrorist support system present in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Khalid Khawaja it will be recollected filed a constitutional petition in the Lahore High Court to prevent senior Taliban leaders like Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar from being interrogated by foreign intelligence agencies (ATimes). Khalid Khawaja had also disclosed that former Prime Minister of the Pakistan, Nawaz sharif had met Osama Bin laden five times (The News).

2. Col. Imam was the one decorated by Bush Sr as the 'one who dealt the first blow', obviously the first blow to the USSR and the presented with a piece of the Berlin Wall.The Pakistani ISI, Col. Imam's own unit, has now picked him up. The US hand is obvious too.

3. IIRC, Col. Imam was in the lead Taliban truck that drove into Kabul when they drove out Najibullah. The man has been the Pakistani military's lead in afghanistan. He has done incomparable harm to Afghanistan. The man is an out and out jihadi, who should be debriefed like any other taliban or al-aqida jehadi terrorist in Guantanamo bay.

4. Khalid Khwaja, is a sly, slippery guy, he has had his fingers in numerous pies, including the murder of Daniel Pearl. Recall that he was the guy who helped Daniel Pearl - via Asra Nomani IIRC - get in touch with the people who eventually dismembered him on camera.

5.The pick up is directly related to the attack on the CIA station in Afghanistan. If they were picked up by the ISI, then these two chaps are likely to have been picked up by "unknown people" for the sole purpose of being handed over. If they were not, i.e. if they were picked up by the TTP, well then... talk about blowback. In that case, let's hope the two at least had the honour to cut their throats themselves. Col. Imam maybe. Khwaja not a chance.




Wonder how hamid gul is feeling these days.He must be sleeping fitfully after this pick up incident.=heheh
 
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Missing ex-ISI officers in Fata

Punjabi Taliban behind kidnapping, says family

Thursday, April 22, 2010
By Umar Cheema

ISLAMABAD: The mystery of the abduction in tribal areas of two pro-Taliban ISI veterans has virtually been solved as the wife of a kidnapped officer says the Punjabi Taliban were responsible and they invited them to the tribal areas.

One of the kidnapped ISI veterans, Khalid Khawaja, has previously acted as a conduit for Baitullah Mehsud for an intelligence agency. He once handed to late Baitullah a list of the Punjabi Taliban in the tribal belt who were disliked by the intelligence sleuths.

Khawaja, in a recently televised video sent by the captors, said he went to the tribal belt on the advice of former DG ISI, Lt Gen (retd) Hamid Gul, a serving ISI Col Sajjad, and former Army chief Aslam Beg. Col (retd) Imam in the same video said he undertook the tribal area visit on the advice of Gen (retd) Beg.


Retired PAF Squadron Leader Khalid Khawaja and Col (retd) Sultan Amir alias Col Imam were kidnapped along with a British documentary-maker of Pakistani origin, Asad Qureshi, in the tribal area where they went to film the 'atrocities' being committed on the Taliban of the Fata region.

According to an early press release issued by Khawaja's family, they went there on the "precise invitation of the High Command of Tehrik-e-Taliban of North and South Waziristan as their respected guests for the purpose of making a documentary highlighting the present situation of the area and its impact on the indigenous population." However, details gathered in background conversations present a totally different picture.

As far their visit to the area is concerned, it was not being done at the invitation of leadership of Taliban militants in Waziristan as was initially told to the media by the family of Khalid Khawaja. It was the second visit to the area within a month by Khawaja and Col (retd) Imam. They first went to the area in the beginning of March and left Islamabad for a second trip on March 26.

Before they departed for the second time, their guide in the first visit declined to join them, stating security concerns. As Khawaja was in contact with another Taliban militant, Usman Punjabi, they decided to leave after receiving clearance from him who also sent a guide to ensure their safe travel. They were later found missing.

The man who called the family of Khalid Khawaja to convey the demands of the captors introduced himself as 'Usman Punjabi, confirmed Khawaja's wife and son who have realised that the callers represent a bunch of criminals. They understand the group is dominated by Punjabi Taliban, raising questions about their motives.

Khawaja once handed a list of Punjabi Taliban to late Baitulah Mehsud on behalf of an intelligence agency, conveying the latter's desire they be reined in as they were creating trouble time and again. Right from attacks on former President Pervez Musharraf to the GHQ and at other places, the Punjabi Taliban have been found involved.

Khawaja's family did not deny he acted as a conduit. Elaborating, his son said his father's efforts were intended to bring peace and he played a crucial role in holding Jirgas with Baitullah-led militants in the past.

Col (retd) Imam was closer to Afghan Taliban apparently working on behalf of the Pakistani establishment. His son is a serving major in the Army.

Khawaja remained more active on the domestic front. He had once claimed that he hosted Osama bin Laden in pre-9/11 days when bin Laden used to visit his Islamabad residence. Khawaja also remained at center-stage during Lal Masjid crisis, siding with the clerics. Though he spearheaded the movement of missing persons in the beginning, his alleged dual role came under suspicion by the families.
 

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Taliban release video of 2 Former ISI Officials abducted by Taliban - 1

The video of former ISI man Sultan Ameer alias Col. Imam, Squadron (rtd) Muhammed Khalid Khawja and a British journalist Asad Qureshi, abducted by Taliban, has come out, Geo News reported Monday.
Taliban extremists released the video of the abductees who they lifted from Wana while on way to Waziristan from Kohat on March 25 on charges of spying.
Col. Imam, introducing himself in the video, said he came to Waziristan on advice from Gen (rtd) Aslam Baig.
Khalid Khawja said he came to Waziristan at the bidding of Gen (rtd) Aslam Baig and Gen (rtd) Hameed Gul.
The British abductee demanded the government of his release.
The abductees said they have been abducted by an organization Asian Tiger.
Imam has been a close friend of Taliban. Khalid is chief of Defence for Human Rights.
According to sources, Khalid and Imam were in Waziristan in connection with peace negotiations.

 
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Confessions of a Pakistani spy
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

ISLAMABAD - Retired squadron leader Khalid Khawaja, a former Inter-Services Intelligence official and a close friend of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden during the resistance in Afghanistan against the Soviets in the 1980s, has explained in videos sent to Asia Times Online how he was on a mission to broker a deal between militants and the army when he was captured by militants, and how he played a double game by deceiving a radical cleric into being arrested.

Khawaja was dismissed from the air force in the late 1980s and subsequently earned a reputation of having close ties to some militant groups. Khawaja has played an important behind-the-scenes role in both regional and national politics. Before the US




attack on Afghanistan in late 2001, he was a part of the back-room diplomacy between the US and the Taliban, which failed miserably.

The revelations appear in five video clips sent to Asia Times Online by an al-Qaeda-linked group of militants from the Pakistani North Waziristan tribal area. The clips appear to have been heavily edited, with some of Khawaja's sentences - he is speaking in Urdu - cut off. At times it appears that a frail Khawaja, in his early 60s, is under duress.


The following are five video clips sent to Asia Times Online featuring Khalid Khawaja, who is speaking in Urdu. Video files are approximately 2.5Mb each in MOV format.
Please click here to download the clips: 1 2 3 4 5

On March 25, Khawaja traveled to North Waziristan to interview commanders Sirajuddin Haqqani and Waliur Rahman Mehsud. He was accompanied by a British citizen, Asad Qureshi, a reporter with Channel 4, and Colonel Ameer Sultan Tarrar, also a former long-time ISI official and once Pakistan's consul-general in Herat in Afghanistan.

Tarrar was nicknamed "Colonel Imam" by the mujahideen as he was instrumental in helping raise the Taliban militia and he trained present Taliban leader Mullah Omar and other top Afghan leaders, including Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and the slain Northern Alliance leader, Ahmad Shah Massoud. "Colonel Imam" is widely referred to as the "Father of the Taliban."

The three men have not been heard from since March 25.

Soon after their disappearance, Punjabi militants calling themselves the "Asian Tigers" sent a video to the media in which they demanded a ransom of US$10 million for the release of Asad Qureshi and the freedom of Taliban leaders Mullah Baradar and Mansoor Dadullah in exchange for Khawaja and Colonel Imam.

The Afghan Taliban have distanced themselves from the kidnappings and their spokesman Zabiullah Muhajahid said they were working for the release of the two.

In the video footage, Khawaja confesses to a scheme to bring down the radical movement that had become centered around Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in the capital, Islamabad. By mid-2007, the movement had become increasingly aggressive. Students from nearby educational faculties had taken to the streets to persuade video shops not to sell "vulgar" movies. The campaign took a turn for the worse when the students seized a suspected brothel owner in the Aapara area, where both the Taliban-supporting Lal Masjid and the ISI were situated.

Khawaja says he hatched a plan with Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the chief of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (the largest Islamic party in the country), the Gand Mufti of Pakistan, Mufti Rafi Usmani, and other scholars to eliminate the Lal Masjid movement from Islamabad.

Khawaja says he trapped Maulana Abdul Aziz, the prayer leader of the mosque and the brother of Ghazi Abdul Rasheed, with whom Aziz ran Lal Masjid.

Khawaja says he telephoned Aziz and lured him into being arrested. Rasheed was killed in the military raid on the mosque in which scores of militants also died.

"I am known among the media and masses as a thoroughbred gentleman, but in fact I was an ISI and CIA [US Central Intelligence Agency] mole ... I am remembering the burnt bodies of the innocent boys and girls of Lal Masjid ... I called Maulana Abdul Aziz and forced him to come out of the mosque wearing a woman's veil and gown, and that's how I got him arrested," Khawaja says in one of the video clips.

The Lal Masjid incident proved a defining moment in Pakistan's recent history: it culminated in the decline of president Pervez Musharraf, who stepped down in August 2008, and provoked a fierce reaction among militants against the Pakistani state.

Khawaja says that top jihadi commanders were the ISI's proxies and were given a free hand to collect funds. The leaders included Maulana Fazlur Rahman Khalil (who laid the foundations of the International Islamic Front with bin Laden in 1998), Maulana Masood Azhar (chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammad), Abdullah Shah Mazhar (a former supreme commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammad.)

"I brought here a list of 14 commanders and was aiming to malign them among militant circles ... Abdullah Shah Mazhar, Fazlur Rahman Khalil, Masood Azhar and jihadi organizations like Laskhar-e-Taiba, al-Badr, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Harkatul Mujahideen, Jamiatul Mujahideen etc operate with the financial cooperation of the Pakistani secret services and they are allowed collect their funds inside Pakistan," Khawaja says in the video.

Khawaja was arrested immediately after the Lal Masjid operation and spent several months in jail. He had been involved in talks with the government to prevent the military from moving into the mosque and he had assured the government that he would resolve the matter without force. However, the government intercepted some of his messages in which he apparently urged those inside the mosque not to surrender and he was arrested as a collaborator with the Lal Masjid.

He was a known critic of the role of the Pakistani Intelligence agencies after September 11, 2001, when Pakistan sided with the US in the "war on terror".

He was one of the few prominent people to openly provide assistance to Arab-Afghan families whose male members had been arrested or killed during the US invasion on Afghanistan in 2001.

At the time of his disappearance, Khawaja was working for the cause of missing people - mostly militants. But because of his past links to the air force and the ISI, he has always been viewed with some suspicion by al-Qaeda.

Khawaja was retired from the air force in the late 1980s after he wrote a letter to the then-president, General Zia ul-Haq, in which he called him a hypocrite for not enforcing Islam in Pakistan. He then went to Afghanistan and fought alongside bin Laden. He was a recruiter and trainer of Pakistani fighters for the resistance against the Soviets.

Khawaja's name hit the headlines again in February 2002 in connection with the kidnapping, torture and murder by militants of American reporter Daniel Pearl. It was alleged that he was involved in the abduction at the behest of the ISI.

Khawaja gave several interviews to Asia Times Online in which he revealed how he had set up a meeting in Saudi Arabia in the late 1980s between bin Laden and then leader of the opposition, Nawaz Sharif, to dislodge Benazir Bhutto's government. Her government fell in 1990 and Sharif became premier. Khawaja also revealed that in the late 1980s he passed on funds from bin Laden to a former Pakistani minister, Sheikh Rasheed, for the operation of training camps for Kashmiri separatists.

It is unclear why Khawaja took Colonel Imam with him to North Waziristan. In the video footage, Khawaja says, "I was sent by the Pakistan army in North Waziristan because the army was badly caught in the middle of a conflict and was unable come out. I was sent to get reconciliation between the army and the militants so that the militants would give safe passage to the military to leave the area."
 

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Confessions of a Pakistani former ISI spy Sq Ldr. Khalid Khawaja kidnapped by taliban

On March 25, Khawaja traveled to North Waziristan to interview commanders Sirajuddin Haqqani and Waliur Rahman Mehsud. He was accompanied by a British citizen, Asad Qureshi, a reporter with Channel 4, and Colonel Ameer Sultan Tarrar, also a former long-time ISI official and once Pakistan's consul-general in Herat in Afghanistan.

Tarrar was nicknamed "Colonel Imam" by the mujahideen as he was instrumental in helping raise the Taliban militia and he trained present Taliban leader Mullah Omar and other top Afghan leaders, including Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and the slain Northern Alliance leader, Ahmad Shah Massoud. "Colonel Imam" is widely referred to as the "Father of the Taliban."

The three men have not been heard from since March 25.





 
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The Asia Times article,"Confessions of a Pakistani spy " by Syed Saleem Shahzad tells that this kidnapping may be different. Khawaja's video clips appear to be coerced

Note that with Imam's son being a serving Brigadier and Khawaja having two sons in the Army as well, these guys' loyalties clearly appear to be with Pak Army, despite their fiery protests and such. In other words, they are sell outs from a betrayed jihadi's viewpoint.

It may very well turn out to be one of the more visible backlash incidents by the formerly good and recently turned "bad" jihadi elements against the people that betrayed them within Pak Army. The GHQ attack and the bombing campaign around that time was one of the salvos but if the likes of Khawaja and Imam are killed, then Hamid Gul will be sleeping fitfully these days after this incident and even Hafiz Saeed will not be comfortable in his safe house.=xD
 

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Godfather "Kidnapped" by Children, Col. Imam and Taliban

Taliban in Waziristan have released a video of former ISI official, Brigadier Amir Sultan A.K.A Col. Imam, another former Pakistan Air Force officer Khalid Khwaja and a Pakistani-British citizen Asad Qureshi. Its very strange, the godfather has been arrested by his children. First the news appeared last week in Pakistani media saying Col. Imam and two others were missing on their way to Waziristan, to make a documentary with Taliban leader Waliur Rehman Mehsood. After these confusing reports, a Taliban commander contacted by the News, had said they are safe and sound in South Waziristan with Commander Mehsood. And it was later when the video confirmed their kidnap. Apparently depressed, the two former ISI officials in the video talk about their service in the intelligence agency. The British-passport holder Asad Qureshi, said to be a journalist, talks in English saying "I am an England citizen, detained by Asian Tigers. Please help us". Taliban demanded release of Mullah Baradar, the second-in-command of Taliban after Mullah Omer, arrested recently from Karachi city, Mullah Mansoor Dadullah and Mullah Kabir, two other notorious Taliban leaders.

There are some very confusing aspects of this incident. Firstly, why would Taliban arrest a former godfather, who was the most prominent defenders of Taliban in international media? "Asian Tigers" is heard for the first time; generally Taliban groups are named after Arab commanders during and after Prophet Muhammad. Its first time they are claiming responsibility with a name of English words. In the video, the two former ISI officers say they came to Waziristan on suggestions of Former Chief of Pakistan Army General Aslam Baig and Former Director General of ISI, General Hamid Gul, whom the US tried to declare a terrorist from the UN Security Council. While Hamid Gul has denied about his suggestion, talking to BBC Urdu. He says "its seems like a conspiracy of the US against me. And I don't believe they are arrested by Pakistani or Afghan Taliban. Taliban would never do this. It's any criminal group." If they are not kidnapped by Taliban, why militants have not denied this yet? As quoted above, a Taliban commander had earlier confirmed arrival of the three "detainees" as "guests with Commander Waliur Rehman." In the video, Taliban declare the former intelligence officials as the "enemies of Islam and Muslims". Secondly, if abductors are a criminal group, why would they demand release of Taliban leaders? And one cannot believe Taliban—having full control in the areas of Waziristan where they have been kidnapped—are unaware of "criminal groups". Actually, Hamid Gul himself is trying a conspiracy in the mid of extreme shock and confusion on this act of his children—Taliban.

Col. Imam played the most important role in making Taliban after the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan. He trained Mullah Omer, Hekmatyar, Massoud and all other "Mujahideen leaders". Col. Imam received training in Explosive Sabotage in the United States of America during Afghan Jihad against Soviet Union. He remained as Consul of Pakistani Consulate in Herat during that period. He was in Pak Army for 18 years in the Special Service Group (Commando Division) of Pakistan Army. Former President Pervez Musharraf was also an SSG Commando, the most elite force of Pakistan Army. Later he was in ISI for 11 years from 1974 to September 2001, just days before the US forces landed in Afghanistan. He was among those ISI officers rescued from Kandahar to Quetta after the US forces launched attack against Taliban in Mullah Omer's birthplace.

Col. Imam used to defend Taliban, both Afghan and Pakistani, in his interviews and regular press statements in Pakistani media. He was a de facto spokesman of Taliban defending them in international media. Recently he had suggested the US to talk with Mullah Omer. There are also rumors that he was on a mission to talk with Taliban in Waziristan, when they were abducted.

In the video below, his interview with Geo TV, he admits training Mullah Omer and Hekmatyar with some interesting and funny sentences. Also to your utter surprise, he says Hamid Karzai worked as his interpreter with Mujahideen leaders. "I knew Hekmatyar and Massoud from the days when they used to throw acid on face of girls of Kabul University." He also says, "Getting together the Afghans is like catching frog from muddy waters," while talking about the problems of uniting the Mujahideen factions during and after Soviet Union in Afghanistan. There have been claims that Afghan and Pakistani Taliban have only ideological links. They used to operate altogether in Afghanistan before the US arrival, but have no operational links now. Why Pakistani Taliban would demand release of Afghan Taliban leaders, if they have no operational links? Mullah Mansoor Dadullah is the brother of notorious Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah—infamous for killing thousands of civilians during Taliban rule—who was killed by US forces in Afghanistan in 2007. Their all family members—from Chaman city of Pakistan near Kandahar city of Afghanistan—are in the ranks of Taliban.

All the confusing accounts on abduction of Col. Imam and others will be clear within a week, as militants in the video have given deadline of 10 days to Pakistan Government to release the arrested Taliban leaders.
 

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Truth About Taliban | Col IMAM (ISI) Praising Ameer-ul-Momineen Mullah Muhammad Umar | Part-1
In Interview of Col IMAM who Trained Afghan Talibans During WAR against Russia.He says that MULLAH MUHAMMAD UMAR is a Great Man of Current Time.

 
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Multiple reports suggest that the people who have these guys are specifically angry about the role Khawaja may have played in the Lal Masjid betrayal. Specifically, Khawaja appears to be the guy who tricked that Abdul Aziz guy to come out in a burqa and then got him humiliated on national TV.If one looks at Khalid Khawaja's vids on U-tube, you will notice that his dressing style is uniquely Mehsudian. This is in constrast to Tarrar guy wearing a different style white turban.If this news about "kidnapping by TTP" is correct, then obviously focus will be more on Khalid guy.Looks like Khawaja is the target and Imam may be set free.
 

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Brig (R) Amir Sultan Tarar A.K.A. Col Imam 1
an interview given by Col Imam (Brig. Amir Sultan Tarar) to a private TV channel some time ago, where he reveals a few things.






 
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Missing ex-ISI men face revenge



Monday, April 26, 2010
By Mazhar Tufail

ISLAMABAD: The captors of two former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officials and a British journalist, who went missing in North Waziristan Agency nearly three weeks ago, are unlikely to spare the two former ISI sleuths as they are sure that they have been spying on them.

Two former ISI officers, Colonel (retd) Imam and Squadron Leader (retd) Khalid Khwaja and a journalist Asad Qureshi, went missing in North Waziristan where they had gone to work on a documentary on the Taliban.

"All the efforts made by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Afghan Taliban) to secure release of the two former ISI officials and the British journalist have failed," said Qari Ziaur Rehman, a Taliban commander in Kunar.

Qari Ziaur Rehman said it had been confirmed that the trio was not in the captivity of the (outlawed) Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan but one of the scattered groups of the Pakistani militants, either the Punjabi Taliban or any other group. He said the captors of the three seemed to be very close to the former clerics of Lal Masjid -- Maulana Abdul Aziz and Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi.

"This is the reason that they forced Khalid Khawaja into making the confessional statement that he worked for the CIA and ISI," he argued. "Thus, it has been confirmed that Khalid Khwaja had been helping the Musharraf regime when it launched operation at Lal Masjid," he added.

Qari Zia said the captors of the trio believed that by detaining the two former ISI officials and a British journalist, they had succeeded in smashing a network that had been spying on them. He said different groups of the Afghan Taliban made hectic efforts for the release of the kidnapped men but the captors did not oblige them.

"The Taliban commander said the Punjabi Taliban groups, including the one led by Ilyas Kashmiri, were extremely annoyed with the two former ISI officials, particularly Khalid Khwaja, because they believed that they played an important role in the arrest of all their operatives and leaders by the Pakistani authorities," Qari Zia said.

"I look like a modest, religious and sympathetic person but in fact I have been working for the ISI and the CIA. I am shameful of my deeds and am paying the price of my sins. I remember burnt bodies of the small girl and boy students of Lal Masjid because I forced Maulana Abdul Aziz, Pesh Imam of Lal Masjid, to escape. Maulana Abdul Aziz is a very simple person and sincere in implementation of true Islam in the country. We trapped this simple person and he got arrested," reports quoted him saying in the video.
 

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Watch Exclusive Interview with Former ISI officer Khalid Khwaja at the following link:

 
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Daredevil

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These guys have actively trained many a militants and created havoc all around the world. It is poetic justice that they meet their shahdat at the hands of their pupils.

Finally, I hope this is not a drama by ISI.
 

Daredevil

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Poetic justice met :). The master gets shahdat at the hands of the pupil.

Kidnapped ex-ISI officer found dead



Bullet riddled body of Khalid Khwaja was found today with a pamphlet saying Asian Tigers killed Khwaja.

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, April 28, 2010, for the release of the kidnapped men.

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.

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.

The purported militant group released video statements of the two former intelligence officers, Ameer Sultan alias Col Imam (retd) and Squadron Leader Khalid Khwaja (retd) and journalist, Asad Qureshi.

In the video, released on April 19, 2010, Col Imam first introduced himself and then claimed that he had come to Waziristan on the advice of former army chief, Gen Mirza Aslam Baig (retd). He said he had served the Army for 18 years and worked in intelligence branch for 11 years.

Khalid Khwaja, who is now a lawyer and chairman of the Defence for Human Rights, said he served Pakistan Air Force for 18 years and the intelligence unit for two years. He said he had come to Waziristan on the advice of former intelligence chief Lt-Gen Hameed Gul, Gen Aslam Beg (retd) and Col Sajjad of the intelligence unit. It seemed he was reading a written statement handed to him by his kidnappers as at some point he appeared looking down to a piece of paper to read the name of Col Sajjad.

The third person in the video was journalist Assad Qureshi.

He said: "My name is Asad Qureshi. I am a British citizen. Please help and set me free. I am being detained by Asian Tigers." In an email to media, the spokesman for this previously unheard militant organisation admitted that Khalid Khwaja and Col Imam were in Taliban custody.

"We demand the release of all Taliban leaders and others Mujahideen, including Mulla Biradar, Mansoor Dadullah and Maulvi Kabir. We will send a list of other Mujahideen we want to free within few days," the spokesman added. He said they had set 10-day deadline for the government to release 'Mujahideen' or else they would kill the officers or take any other decision.
 

Solid Beast

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Ex - Afghan war era spooks who fostered civil war and piracy in Afghanistan being found captured and dead!? Baghwan is answering our prayers.
 

Solid Beast

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Also for backroom covert dealings ISI tends to use retired officers. Glad to see things go sour.
 

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