Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: May 15, 2006
A Taliban commander has claimed that Pakistan
intelligence had a hand in the recent killing of Indian engineer K Suryanarayan
in Afghanistan, a Kabul-based private TV channel reported.
The commander, wishing to remain anonymous,
told Tolu television that Amir Khan Haqqani, the military commander of Taliban
fighters in Zabul province, opposed the killing of Suryanarayan.
He claimed the Indian engineer was eventually
killed by Mullah Latif, a militiaman under the command of Mawlawi Mohammad
Andar, allegedly on orders from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Following the accusation, Afghan President
Hamid Karzai's Chief of Staff Jawed Ludin said the administration expects
Islamabad to clarify its position.
"The reports on ISI involvement in the
incident are very important to Afghanistan," Ludin said.
Suryanarayan was abducted by the Taliban from
Zabul province on April 28 and his beheaded body was found on April 30.
Meanwhile, refuting claims of the Taliban
commander, Pakistan said it had never sponsored the policy of killing civilians.
Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Tasnim
Aslam said they would have come out with an official reaction had such claims
been made by the Indian government. "If anybody has any evidence, they
are welcome to forward it," she said.
She said Tolu TV had made such claims against
Pakistan in the past attributing them to some Afghan officials, which were
later denied.
"These days anybody can make claims through
Internet claiming to be Taliban. Such reports are not worth commenting on,"
she added.
