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Afghan Taliban demands Pakistan explains former minister's death
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-rt...,5643073.story
Reuters
5:49 AM CST, February 13, 2012
KABUL, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The Afghan Taliban demanded
on Monday that Pakistan release details of how one of its former
ministers died in a Pakistani jail in 2010.
Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, who was defence minister when the
Taliban ruled Afghanistan in the late 1990s, was captured in the
southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan in 2007, and died
of heart disease in March 2010, the Taliban said in a statement.
Akhund's family have only recently been informed of his
death.
"It is still not clear whether the hero of Afghanistan's
jihad and (the) Islamic nation passed away of sickness or he had
been martyred due to torture and torment," said Zabihullah
Mujahid, spokesman for the Afghan Taliban.
"We strongly urge the Pakistani authorities to provide
accurate and complete information regarding his detention,
sickness and his death," Mujahid said.
Several militant groups, including the Afghan Taliban and al
Qaeda, operate in Pakistan's western regions, taking advantage
of a porous border with Afghanistan to conduct cross-border
attacks, or plot violence elsewhere.
Several senior members of the Taliban have been captured in
Pakistan, while members of a Taliban leadership council known as
the Quetta Shura, are believed to be based in the Pakistani city
of Quetta, capital of Baluchistan province.
Pakistan has consistently denied giving sanctuary to
insurgents and denies the existence of any Quetta Shura.
(Reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Daniel Magnowski and
Robert Birsel)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-rt...,5643073.story
Reuters
5:49 AM CST, February 13, 2012
KABUL, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The Afghan Taliban demanded
on Monday that Pakistan release details of how one of its former
ministers died in a Pakistani jail in 2010.
Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, who was defence minister when the
Taliban ruled Afghanistan in the late 1990s, was captured in the
southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan in 2007, and died
of heart disease in March 2010, the Taliban said in a statement.
Akhund's family have only recently been informed of his
death.
"It is still not clear whether the hero of Afghanistan's
jihad and (the) Islamic nation passed away of sickness or he had
been martyred due to torture and torment," said Zabihullah
Mujahid, spokesman for the Afghan Taliban.
"We strongly urge the Pakistani authorities to provide
accurate and complete information regarding his detention,
sickness and his death," Mujahid said.
Several militant groups, including the Afghan Taliban and al
Qaeda, operate in Pakistan's western regions, taking advantage
of a porous border with Afghanistan to conduct cross-border
attacks, or plot violence elsewhere.
Several senior members of the Taliban have been captured in
Pakistan, while members of a Taliban leadership council known as
the Quetta Shura, are believed to be based in the Pakistani city
of Quetta, capital of Baluchistan province.
Pakistan has consistently denied giving sanctuary to
insurgents and denies the existence of any Quetta Shura.
(Reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Daniel Magnowski and
Robert Birsel)
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