Pakistani court blocks transfer of Mullah Baradar and four senior Taliban leaders to Afghanistan

Long War Journal ^ | February 26, 2010 1:54 PM | Bill Roggio

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

One of Pakistan's top courts has blocked the extradition of five senior Afghan Taliban commanders to Afghanistan, the United States, or any other country.

The Lahore High Court has prohibited the Pakistani government from transferring Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Afghan Taliban's second in command, and four other members of the Quetta Shura to foreign custody after receiving a petition from a lawyer with known links to the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Over the past two months, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, aided by the CIA, has detained Mullah Baradar; Maulvi Abdul Kabir, the leader of the Peshawar Regional Military Shura; Mullah Abdul Salam, the shadow governor of Kunduz; Mullah Mir Mohammed, the shadow governor of Baghlan province; and Mohammed Younis, the former shadow governor of Zabul province, during raids throughout the country.

Today the Lahore High Court blocked the transfer of Baradar and the four other senior Afghan Taliban leaders after receiving a petition from Khalid Khawaja, a self-described humans rights activist with deep ties to the Taliban, al Qaeda, and a host of terrorist groups operating on Pakistani soil. Khawaja is a former Squadron Commander in the Pakistani Air Force who fought alongside al Qaeda and reportedly Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in the 1980s. He has also been linked to the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

[WellyP]

Pakistan needs a wake up call but Obama is too much of a P-ssy!!

[Marine_Uncle]

"Today the Lahore High Court blocked the transfer of Baradar and the four other senior Afghan Taliban leaders after receiving a petition from Khalid Khawaja, a self-described humans rights activist with deep ties to the Taliban, al Qaeda, and a host of terrorist groups operating on Pakistani soil."
Taint that just a pile of steaming stuff. I knew these jerks would not transfer them. What a shallow excuse they ended up using.

[Marine_Uncle]

If Obi had any balls he could easily announce that arms shipments and aid would be held up if the Paki do not reverse their decision on this matter. Of course we know where the guy that signed on his first day in office an executive order prohibiting any of his records to be made public stands.
How people like Pelosi and Reid must love him. He makes their snakehood seem legitimate.

[ModelBreaker]

“If Obi had any balls he could easily announce that arms shipments and aid would be held up if the Paki do not reverse their decision on this matter.”

Does it really make any difference if they escape from a Pakistani jail or an Afghani jail?

[Marine_Uncle]

"Does it really make any difference if they escape from a Pakistani jail or an Afghani jail?"
No in my opinion. As far as I am concerned Pakistan could give a *hit less with really cooperating big time with the US and NATO forces. They play the games necessary to appear to care but hate us with equal level any goon brought into Afghanistan or their country to learn jihadist tactics to blow up air planes etc..
And we continue to pump money into their coffers, most likely most going to private individuals and we give them F16's etc..
IMHO, the only place these clowns should have been shipped off to is either the compound at Bagram AFB or Gitmo. Tis that simple.

[Taxman]

Perhaps they could leave in body bags?

[G8 Diplomat]

Pakistan ۋﮧ۱م

FReepmail if you want on or off

[AdmSmith]

No surprise:

Khalid Khawaja is a citizen of Pakistan and a former Air Force officer and former Officer of the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence agency.

Khawaja describes himself as a close associate of Osama bin Laden in the early days of the Afghan resistance against the Soviet Union.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_Khawaja

And the comments by Syed Saleem Shahzad:

Friday's decision clearly marks that there are other players in the game - a proactive judiciary and radical elements in the military establishment. Between them, they could stand in the way of the full realization of American designs in the region.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/LB27Df02.html

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the ping.

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php?area=dam&lang=eng

[happinesswithoutpeace]

talibump

[gandalftb]

Several points to clear up.

The petition is a temporary restraining order only that expires at the next full hearing on March 15. At that hearing, for the first time, an extradition request from Afghanistan will be entered in. An Article 199 petition prohibits transfer of foreign nationals without extradition, that's all. Khawaja's petition was a stunt, nothing more, all this would have happened anyway.

Tayyab Popalzai, a close relative of Omar was also picked up.

Baradar's cell phone was a gold mine of intel.

The Paki's are in a difficult position and angry at us. They didn't know exactly whom they were arresting, we did, but were unsure if they would make the bust if they knew. Once they had him, we counted on Baradar to initially lie about his ID and get himself into physical custody. Worked like a charm.

The Paki's now have a "hot potato" who will likely rat out, to us, the cozy ISI and PakMil connection to the Taliban and more.

The Pak's can't hold Baradar or any of the others as they were very careful not ot commit any crimes in Pakistan, except for illegal entry. Guess what the punishment is? Yup, deportation to the home country.

The Taliban will learn from this and make sure that their Afghans commit some minor Pak crime that keeps them from being deported in the future. Certainly an odd twist.

So the Pak's got boxed and have to extradite the Afghan's once the paperwork comes in showing their crimes in Afghanistan.

[GonzoGOP]

Do we know what building the terrorist is being held in. Do we have the GPS coordinates. There would seem to be a solution to this problem. You know the sort of thing that would cause future judges to want to extradite the guys quickly so as to have them a long way away from said judge's chambers.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks,...very interesting....

[nuconvert]

Are you in the military?
Where do you get your info?

[swarthyguy]

>>He has also been linked to the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

In Bernard Henri Levy’s superb “Who Killed Danny Pearl” (one of the only books on the topic, and that too, by a Frenchman), he describes a dinner at Khwaja’s house where Danny Pearl was a guest.

Rumored to be one of the contacts Pearl had in Pakistan when he went to Karachi from Bombay, he very well could have set Pearl up.

[Marine_Uncle]

I believe I get your drift...