Mulla Baradar not released, say Afghan Taliban Pakistan says Baradar released, can be contacted

ISLAMABAD: The Afghan Taliban claimed on Wednesday that Pakistan is keeping the group’s former deputy leader Mulla Abdul Ghani Baradar under detention despite announcing his release last month, an allegation promptly denied by Pakistani officials. Mulla Baradar’s release after years in detention had stirred hope among many Afghan and Pakistani officials that this would help the struggling peace process in neighbouring Afghanistan. But the current friction raises questions about whether that will happen. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement on the group’s website that Baradar “is still spending days and nights locked up behind bars in worrisome health conditions which are deteriorating by the day.” He called for Baradar’s immediate release. Pakistani officials said Baradar is free but living under tight security for his own safety. The former Taliban commander was free to travel anywhere he chooses, but was always accompanied by Pakistani security officials, said a senior government official. Pakistan has provided him a “secure place” to live that is not accessible to the general public, said a security official. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media about the issue. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Monday that Baradar had been released, “but he is still not completely free.”“We know that his family members have contact with him and we are trying to contact him, or find a telephone number, so we can use him for the peace process,” Karzai said during a press conference in Kabul. Kabul has demanded Islamabad free Baradar ever since he was arrested in a joint raid in Karachi in 2010.While some hope Baradar’s release will help the peace process, others doubt it will do much good. The United States, which opposed his release, is worried he could return to the battlefield. That could give the Taliban in Afghanistan a boost at a time when the US is drawing down its troops and increasingly relying on Afghan forces to fight insurgents. The US asked Pakistan to keep Baradar under house arrest rather than set him free, senior Pakistani and American officials have said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media. It’s unclear whether Baradar’s tight security is related to that request. News desk adds: Rejecting the allegations, Foreign Office spokesman Aizaz Chaudhry said Pakistan has released Taliban detainees to facilitate the reconciliation process in Afghanistan.“Mulla Baradar has been similarly freed. As far as we are concerned, he is free to meet and contact anyone to advance the cause of reconciliation,” he said.