ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: The US authorities are reluctant to release Saifullah Paracha, allegedly one of the financiers of Al Qaeda presently languishing in the US-controlled Guantanamo Bay prison camp, according to National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) director Col Imran, who recently visited the detention cell.

“The US authorities fear that Paracha will again get involved in terrorist activities if he is released and repatriated to Pakistan,” he told journalists at his office here on Thursday.

A two-member delegation visited Guantanamo Bay to secure the release of six Pakistanis, including Saifullah Paracha.

The US authorities, the official said, had agreed to release two Pakistanis – Mohammad Haleem and Zia Shah – soon.

Col Imran, who met Saifullah Paracha in the detention cell, said Paracha was a philanthropist and he had met Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden during his visit to Afghanistan with a delegation to help Afghans through donations. NCMC director-general Brig Javed Iqbal Cheema said 26 Pakistanis were under US detention – 20 in in Bagram and six in Guantanamo.