QUETTA: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesday arrested a tribal elder, Malik Mehboob Khan Nurzai, on charges of attesting deceased Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour’s national identity card and local certificate in the border town of Chaman.
Mullah Akhtar Mansur — who was killed in a US drone attack in Chagai district a few months ago while travelling in a car from Iran to Quetta — was allegedly carrying a passport which identified him as Wali Muhammad.
The driver of the vehicle was also killed in the attack, which destroyed the car and left Mullah Mansour’s body charred beyond recognition.
However, officials claimed that his passport and identity card were found at the site of the drone attack.
It emerged later that the man travelling in the car was Mullah Akhtar Mansour, the chief of the Afghan Taliban.
Official sources said that a team from the FIA went to Chaman on a tip-off about Mr Nurzai’s presence in the area. The FIA team raided a place on the outskirts of Chaman town and arrested Mr Nurzai, who is an elder of the Nurzai tribe.
“We have arrested Malik Mehboob Khan Nurzai who was involved in attesting the documents of Mullah Akhtar Mansour, the chief of Tehreek-i-Taliban Afghanistan and helping him get a Pakistani national identity card and local certificate,” said a senior FIA official, adding that the suspect had been taken to Quetta after the arrest.
Several officials are also facing an inquiry regarding the issuing of a Pakistani identity card, certificate and passport to the deceased Taliban chief. The ID card was issued to the Taliban chief in 2004 in Quetta and he received his passport in a passport office in Karachi in 2005.
The FIA has also arrested some officials of the Qila Abdullah district administration and is investigating them further.
Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2016
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