Former Taliban Ambassador Seeks Asylum in Pakistan

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit


Former Taliban envoy seeks asylum in Pakistan

QUETTA, Dec 23 (AFP)--Former Taliban ambassador to Islamabad Abdul
Salam Zaeef on Sunday said he had applied for political asylum in
Pakistan.

"Yes I am seeking political asylum in Pakistan," Zaeef told AFP by
telephone.

The envoy, who is leaving the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta
for Islamabad on Monday, refused to answer questions about the
situation in his country, saying that "the government has imposed a
ban on me on issuing statements".

Sources close to Zaeef said that in his application he had said "the
situation in Afghanistan is not conducive" for his return.

"There is no more Taliban government and until the situation in
Afghanistan returns to normal, I should be allowed to stay in
Pakistan," he wrote in his asylum plea, the sources said.

Zaeef, who has his home and family in Islamabad, said he was waiting
for a response to his request.

The former Taliban envoy shot to prominence following the start of
the US-led military campaign on October 7 to oust the fundamentalist
Islamic militia, who it accused of harbouring terror suspect Osama
Bin Laden.

Zaeef's stint as envoy to Pakistan came to an end in mid-November
when Islamabad decided to close down the Taliban's embassy following
its ouster from power in Kabul.(AFP)

 
=================================================================
  NY Transfer News Collective   *   A Service of Blythe Systems 
           Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us          
              339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012             
  http://www.blythe.org                  e-mail: nyt@blythe.org 
=================================================================
 
nytas-12.24.01-02:23:21-18098