M A I N   N E W S

Zardari ‘assures support’ to Taliban

London, June 13
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari recently met 50 captured Taliban leaders, including Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in a prison to assure them that their outfit had his government's full support and that they would be freed soon, a media report claimed here today.

A senior Taliban source in regular contact with members of the Quetta “shura” or council told The Sunday Times that in early April, Zardari and a senior ISI official met the 50 high-ranking Taliban members at a prison in Pakistan. This was vigorously denied by Zardari's spokesman, the report said.

According to a Taliban leader in the jail at the time of Zardari's alleged visit, five days before the meeting prison officials were told to prepare for the impending presidential call.

Hours before Zardari's visit, the head warden told the Taliban inmates to impress upon the President how well they had been looked after during their time in captivity. According to the report, Zardari spoke to them for half an hour. He allegedly explained that he had arrested them because his government was under increasing US pressure to end the sanctuary enjoyed by the Taliban in Pakistan and to round up their ringleaders. — PTI