Afghan police commander, officers defect to Taliban

HERAT: An Afghan police commander and 12 junior officers have defected to the Taliban after poisoning seven comrades, government officials in the western province of Farah said on Tuesday.

The commander, named only as Mirwais, was in charge of a checkpoint in the Bala Boluk district when he and his unit defected to the Taliban and handed over their equipment and weapons, including military vehicles.

"He was a police commander for a checkpoint in Shewan village. He joined the Taliban with a Humvee, a Ranger (SUV), radios and 20 guns," said Abdul Rahman Zwandai, a spokesman for the Farah governor.

The seven police were poisoned because they refused to join the rebellion, he said. All were taken to the Farah hospital and an investigation would be launched.

Farah, bordering Iran, is one of western Afghanistan's most insecure provinces, although the west is relatively secure compared to insurgent strongholds in the east and south.

The defection was the first time that police had joined the Taliban and taken so much equipment with them, Zwandai said, and will worry Western backers looking to hand security to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.

But national intelligence officials denied reports in some Afghan media that two members of the country's High Peace Council, which leads government efforts to reconcile with the Taliban, had also defected to the insurgency.

"I'm not sure anyone from the HPC would have joined the Taliban," said National Directorate of Security deputy spokesman Shafiqullah Tahiri.

Mohammad Hashim Grani, who heads the Peace Council in southeast Zabul province, said earlier this week that HPC members Mawlavi Mohammad Aziz and Mawlavi Mohammad Zeba were still backing the government, despite going missing amid Taliban claims they had defected.

"They are in villages to infiltrate the Taliban and meet more and more people," Grani said. "Very soon they will turn back."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani premier Raja Pervez Ashraf said this week during talks in Kabul that Peace Council head Salahuddin Rabbani would soon travel to Pakistan for talks on the stalled Afghan peace process. (Reuters)

MQM delegation meets ANP leaders

ISLAMABAD: A delegation from the MQM met with ANP leaders here on Wednesday.

Speaking to the media following the meeting, MQM leader Farooq Sattar said action should be taken against criminals in Karachi.

Sattar added that the ANP had been invited to MQM headquarters nine zero and contact between the two parties would continue.

Sattar told reporters that the government's writ should be established in Karachi.

ANP leader Haji Adeel also stated that indiscriminate action should be taken against mafias and criminals in Karachi.

He added that meetings between the ANP and MQM were an important step for the country.

No one is safe in Balochistan: CJ

ISLAMABAD: During proceedings of the Balochistan law and order case, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry remarked that no one was safe in the province as people were being killed irrespective of their sect.
A three member bench heard the law and order case on Wednesday and was informed by the Advocate General (AG) that the situation only affected 200 out of the provinces 6.5 million residents. The AG further said that writing that there was a failure in maintaining law and order was not possible.
Justice Khilji Arif remarked that it seemed like the administration had given up on law and order in the province and asked if the provincial government could not maintain peace what was the responsibility of the federal government?
The lawyer for the federation replied that the federal government could not take any steps in the province.
The President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Yasin Azad said the Balochistan issue was getting out of hand and no one wanted to talk about the real issues in the province.
The lawyer for the agencies said the FC would implement orders, to which the Chief Justice said that the FC should give in writing when it will produce the missing persons.