 |
|
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
PAKISTAN: Release of jihad prisoners from Afghanistan welcomed
ISLAMABAD, 19 March 2003 (IRIN) - Pakistan’s government and human rights activists have welcomed Sunday's announcement by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that hundreds of Pakistani jihad, or holy war, prisoners detained following the collapse of the Taliban in 2001 are to be released. They went to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban rulers against the US-led anti-terror coalition, and were captured after the collapse of the regime.
“We welcome it. This is excellent and it sends a very good message,” Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the Pakistani information minister and government spokesman, told IRIN in the capital, Islamabad, on Wednesday. A spokesman for President Karzai said the release of almost 1,000 prisoners was a goodwill gesture ahead of a visit next week by the Afghan leader to Pakistan.
Ahmed added that after repatriation, such prisoners would be investigated. “It will be a normal investigation, and we will release them,” he said, noting however that those found to have had links with terrorist organisations would be further interrogated. He maintained that such moves would improve bilateral relations between the two countries.
But Sarwar Mamund, an official with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) responsible for Afghan affairs in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, told IRIN that despite Karzai’s announcement, it did not follow that Afghan warlords - who still hold hundreds of Pakistani fighters in their own private jails - would release all such prisoners. Karzai still exercises little control over such regional strongmen. “Warlords mostly act on their own, but let’s hope for the best,” he said.
The Pakistani press has repeatedly reported that many Afghan commanders and regional warlords are demanding money in return for releasing jihad prisoners.
Pakistan was instrumental in the creation and military success of the Taliban, but Islamabad rapidly dropped its support for the movement and allied itself with the US after the 11 September events.
According to Pakistan’s ambassador in Kabul, Rustam Shah Mohmand, around 900 prisoners will be freed. Some of them might be airlifted to their country. About 500 Pakistani prisoners have been handed over to Pakistan over the past year.
Hina Jilani, the secretary-general of HRCP, told IRIN that HRCP was pleased with the announcement and hoped that the repatriations would begin soon. “The conditions [obtaining] in Afghan prisons have raised concerns in all human rights circles,” she said. International media and human rights organisations have often highlighted the appalling conditions under which many of the Pakistanis were kept, particularly in the northern Afghan town of Sheberghan.
Jilani added that there should be some kind of debriefing sessions with the repatriated former prisoners. “I think a very clear distinction should be made between those who had volunteered for jihad [holy war] in their misplaced sense of religion, and those who are linked to militant terrorist organisations,” she said.
According to HRCP, most of the Pakistani prisoners belong to the Malakand division of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, who were lured into participating in the war in Afghanistan against the US by hardline pro-Taliban clerics.
Themes: (IRIN) Human Rights
[ENDS]
The material contained on this Web site comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post any item on this site, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All graphics and Images on this site may not be re-produced without the express permission of the original owner. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
