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Pakistan court rejects petition on Taliban extradition

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, May 11, IRNA -- A Pakistani court Tuesday rejected a petition, seeking orders to prevent the government from extradition of top Afghan Taliban leaders to any foreign country including the US or Afghanistan, a lawyer said.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, second-in-command to Taliban chief Mulla Muhammad Omar, and several other senior Taliban have been arrested in different Pakistani cities over the past three months.

Earlier the Lahore High Court had issued orders to the federal government not hand over the detainees to any other country.

Khalid Khwaja, a human rights activist, who had filed the petition, was kidnapped in March and killed on April 30th by a group calling themselves the "Asian Tigers" in North Waziristan tribal region.

The single-member bench headed by Chief Justice Lahore High Court, Khwaja Muhammad Sharif, on Tuesday rejected the petition with the observation that the petitioner has been killed.

Tariq Asad, lawyer for the slain petitioner, said that he had requested the court to give him more time either to find another petitioner or pursue the case himself.

He said that he has contacted leader of a political party and requested him to pursue the case.

Pakistan has only confirmed the arrest of Mulla Abdul Ghani Baradar but local media quoted security sources as saying that at least 10 top Taliban leaders have been taken into custody.

Some of the reportedly arrested Taliban leaders are: Mullah Abdul Kabir, "shadow governor" of Nangarhar province, Mullah Abdul Salam, the "shadow governor" of Afghanistan's Kunduz province, Mullah Mir Mohammad, the "shadow governor" of Baghlan province, Tayyeb Agha, former spokesman of Mulla Omar and Ameer Muawiyia, a senior Taliban coordinator for al-Qaeda.

Afghan government has sought extradition of all Taliban leaders arrested in Pakistan but the demand has not yet been accepted. Afghan and UN officials had disclosed that Mulla Baradar had been in contact with the Afghan government but his arrest has halted the process.

Pakistan says it has no extradition treaty with Afghanistan and that it will follow the country’s legal system in dealing with the matter.

Rejection of the petition has now paved the way for their extradition of the Taliban leaders but analysts say Islamabad may not hand over them to Afghan government.

Last month, U.S media reported that American investigators have joined Pakistani officials to question Mulla Baradar.