A senior Afghan Taliban spokesman says the Pakistani government has not fulfilled a promise to free their former second-in-command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
“Unfortunately he still spends his days and nights in prison, and his health condition is worrying. It is getting worse day by day,” media outlets quoted Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid as saying.
In mid-September, Sartaj Aziz, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s adviser on foreign affairs, told reporters that Islamabad was ready to release former Afghan Taliban leader in an effort to help end nearly 12 years of war in the neighboring war-ravaged country.
“In principle, we have agreed to release him. The timing is being discussed. It should be very soon…. I think within this month,” Aziz said.
Islamabad government later announced that the former commander had been released, but since then has provided no further information on his whereabouts.
Media reports say Baradar has since been moved between safe houses in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, near the Afghan border.
Mullah Baradar was captured in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi in 2010.
Baradar is one of the co-founders of the Taliban movement in 1994, and was reported to be a close aide to Mullah Omar, the chief of the Taliban.
Pakistan has released dozens of high-profile Afghan Taliban prisoners over the past few months.
Afghanistan is seeking help from its neighbor to open up a direct channel of communication with Taliban militants with Afghan President Hamid Karzai urging Pakistan for several times to facilitate peace talks with the militant group.
Prime Minister Sharif has also been an advocate of peace talks with Taliban militants since his election campaign, which ended in his May victory.
The Taliban have so far refused to contact the Afghan government because they consider Karzai a US puppet. The Afghan High Peace Council has been making efforts to initiate dialogue with discontented Afghans and militants who have engaged in warfare with the US-led forces and Kabul’s Western-backed government.
JR/SS
Copyright: Press TV