TOP Taliban militants - including possibly Mullah Omar's deputy Mullah Obaidullah Akhund - were believed to be on their way back to the battlefield last night after being freed by Pakistan's new Government as part of a deal to gain the release of the country's kidnapped ambassador to Kabul.| A full-scale withdrawal of Pakistan forces was under way from region of South Waziristan. |
The released ambassador, Tariq Azizuddin, seized by militants before Islamabad's election in February as he drove with bodyguards inside Pakistan territory along the main highway that leads to Afghanistan, is believed to have been held in South Waziristan.
Last night, as Mr Azizuddin was reunited with his family at his home in Rawalpindi, government officials insisted no deal had been done to secure his release. Pakistani newspapers reported that at least 12 "senior militants" including Mullah Obaidullah - Afghanistan's defence minister when the Taliban held power in Kabul, and a legendary fighter whose importance, analysts say, cannot be overstated - were freed as part of a deal in which 55 Pakistani soldiers as well as Mr Azizuddin were released, though Islamabad officials denied this.
Conflicting reports said that while Mullah Obaidullah was on the top of a list of more than 50 Taliban commanders whose release was demanded as part of the deal, Islamabad had declined to free him. Linked to the release deal, however, are believed to be the military pullout from South Waziristan and other moves to reach peace accords with the militants.
The prospect of some of the most hardline and effective jihadi militants being freed, and of the pullout from South Waziristan presaging similar retreats elsewhere, is likely to cause serious dismay in Washington, within NATO and among nations concerned about the seriously stepped-up levels of cross-border infiltration into Afghanistan from Pakistan.
When he was captured by Pakistani forces in the Balochistan capital of Quetta in March last year, Mullah Obaidullah was regarded as an important catch in the war against the Taliban. US President George W. Bush is expected to seek personal assurances about the Pakistani Government's commitment to the war on terror when he meets Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum at Sharm el-Sheikh. Washington has made no bones about its apprehensions over the peace deals being negotiated, and events surrounding the release of Mr Azizuddin will, according to analysts in Islamabad, do nothing to mitigate those concerns.
Meanwhile, the political problems confronting the fledgling Government were underlined last night when it was announced that the powerful lawyers' movement credited with leading the fight for democracy against President Pervez Musharraf is to start another "long march" - this time to try to force the restoration to office of the country's sacked judges. A meeting in the Punjab capital of Lahore decided yesterday to target Pakistan People's Party leader Asif Ali Zardari. He is seen as the main obstacle to the reinstatement of the judges sacked when Mr Musharraf declared his state of emergency last November. The march, due to begin on June 10, with lawyers from across Pakistan setting out for Islamabad in what is set to pose a huge challenge for the Government, is aimed at forcing Mr Zardari to change his stance.
Reports last night said that as relations with his main coalition partner, Nawaz Sharif, deteriorate, Mr Zardari was working out a "minus Nawaz" strategy that, to the delight of Mr Musharraf, would see the evolution of a two-thirds majority for a coalition made up of the PPP and parties allied to Mr Musharraf.