Pak Army confirms Afghan Taliban leader Baradar’s arrest

ISLAMABAD - The Pakistani military has confirmed the capture and arrest of the deputy leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

“At the conclusion of detailed identification procedures, it has been confirmed that one of the persons arrested happens to be Mullah Baradar,” The Daily Times quoted Major General Athar Abbas, the Director-General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) of the Pakistan Army, as saying in a written message to reporters.

“The place of arrest and operational details cannot be released due to security reasons,” he added.

An intelligence official said security agents had been searching for Baradar in Quetta, where the US says the Taliban leadership is based.

“Sensing that he might get arrested, he somehow slipped out of Quetta and into Karachi, maybe in disguise. That’s where we arrested him, about four days back,” said the official, who declined to be identified.

Baradar has been in detention for more than 10 days and was talking to interrogators, two intelligence officials told a foreign news agency on condition of anonymity.

A third official said on Wednesday that Baradar was being held at an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) office in Karachi.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has described Baradar’s arrest important and rejected suggestions that Pakistan was not cooperating with the United States against militants.

“Our cooperation is beyond doubt,” Qureshi told the BBC from Brussels. (ANI)