Pak to contact Interpol for handing over of Taliban chief Faqir following Afghan refusal

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Islamabad, Feb 23: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that the government would soon contact the Interpol for the handing over of Taliban leader Maulvi Faqir, who was recently captured in Afghanistan.

The TTP commander was captured on Monday by Afghan intelligence personnel in a border area.

Pakistan requested the Afghan government to hand him over to Pakistan, the Dawn reports.

But the Afghan foreign ministry shot down Pakistan’s request a few hours later stating there was no agreement for exchanging prisoners between the two countries.

In a statement, Afghan foreign ministry spokesperson Janan Musazai said that Islamabad had rejected Kabul’s request to hand over certain Afghan Taliban prisoners, indicating his side’s refusal might be a tit-for-tat move.

Meanwhile, on the issue of dialogue with the TTP, Malik said the Pakistani Taliban had been speaking of holding talks with the government, but did not appear serious on the matter.

The minister advised the TTP to adopt the path of peace and to constitute a team, which could be delegated the task of holding a dialogue with the government, the paper said. (ANI)