ISLAMABAD: The Afghan Taliban on Tuesday dismissed reports that Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob, a senior Taliban leader and the son of the insurgency’s late founder, Mullah Omar, had been killed in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar.
Yaqoob, 31, is Omar’s eldest son and in charge of the Taliban’s military commission in 15 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.
Reports of Yaqoob’s death could undermine unity within the insurgency and threaten a fledgling peace process to bring a negotiated end to an 18-year-long war in Afghanistan.
“This is an utter lie, which Kabul is spreading to hide its shame and defeat,” Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told Arab News, referring to reports that Yaqoob had been killed.
A statement released by the Taliban on Tuesday also dismissed reports of Yaqoob’s death.
Afghanistan’s first deputy speaker of the national assembly Zahir Qadir had last claimed in 2015 that Omar’s son had been killed in Quetta, followed by quick denials from the Taliban.
The same year, the Taliban finally conceded that Omar, the one-eyed Afghan cleric who transformed a small group of seminary students into a national guerrilla insurgency, was dead. The Afghan government believes he died in a hospital in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi in April 2013.
The Taliban are currently engaged in a flurry of talks with representatives of the US government to find a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Afghanistan. They have so far refused direct talks with the Kabul government whom they view as an illegitimate, foreign-appointed regime.
Taliban dismiss reports Mullah Omar’s son murdered in Pakistan
Taliban dismiss reports Mullah Omar’s son murdered in Pakistan
- Spokesman calls reports of Yaqoob’s murder an “utter lie“
- Rumours could threaten fledgling peace process in Afghanistan
Pakistan opposition to meet today as Imran Khan’s party rejects prison medical exam
- Pakistan government conducted ex-PM Imran Khan’s medical examination in jail on Sunday over reports of his deteriorating eye condition
- Khan’s family, PTI party have rejected the examination, saying that neither his family nor former premier’s doctors were invited to check-up
Islamabad: An alliance of opposition parties will meet today, Monday, to determine its future course of action after former prime minister Imran Khan’s family and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party rejected a medical examination of the former premier conducted by the government, a spokesperson of the alliance confirmed.
The superintendent of Adiala Jail, where Khan is incarcerated, said a team of expert doctors from various hospitals conducted a detailed examination of his eye on Sunday. The examination was held days after a lawyer, who was asked by the top court to visit Khan at the jail earlier this month to assess his living conditions, submitted a report in the Supreme Court. The report said the 73-year-old had suffered severe vision loss in his right eye due to central retinal vein occlusion, and that he was left with only 15 percent sight in the affected eye.
Khan’s PTI party and family have dismissed the medical examination, protesting that the government had carried it out without inviting the former premier’s family members or his personal doctors.
“Opposition will meet during the next few hours to discuss the future line of action,” Sheikh Waqas Akram, the PTI’s central information secretary, told Arab News.
“We reject the examination that has been conducted in the absence of family or their nominated doctor.”
He said that while Khan’s family members and doctors were informed of the medical examination, “disallowing our doctor and family is aimed at hiding the truth.”
Akram said the government had rejected the family’s request for Khan’s sister Dr. Uzma Khan or Dr. Nausherwan Burki, a prominent physician based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to be present during the check-up.
He said Khan’s sisters and Dr. Burki will hold a press conference on Tuesday to apprise the media about the latest situation.
Separately in a video statement, Khan’s physician Dr. Aasim Yousaf said he spoke to the two doctors who were treating the former premier at Adiala Jail on Sunday via a conference call. He said that as per their latest assessment, Khan had shown “significant improvement” due to the treatment and that his vision “had improved significantly as well.”
“I would be extremely happy if I was able to confirm that this was the case,” Dr. Yousaf said. “Unfortunately, because I have not seen him myself and have not been able to participate in his care or to talk to him, I’m unable to either confirm or deny the veracity of what we have been told.”
Dr. Yousaf appealed to the authorities to either allow him or Dr. Faisal Sultan, CEO of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Center, to care for Khan at the central prison in Rawalpindi. He also appealed to authorities to carry out Khan’s further treatment at Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad.
Hussain Ahmad Yousafzai, a spokesperson of the Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayin-e-Pakistan alliance, also confirmed that members of parliament from the opposition alliance are meeting to discuss the future course of action today.
“The opposition meeting is going to discuss future line of action as our demand for moving Imran Khan to Al-Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad and treating him in front of the family has not been fulfilled,” Yousafzai said.
’NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT’
Speaking to lawyers in the eastern city of Ferozewala, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said one of Khan’s eyes has around 70 percent vision with corrective glasses, while the other has “normal” 6/6 vision.
“The latest report being discussed today has been re-examined as per the Supreme Court’s order,” he said. “There is nothing to worry about.”
Separately, the Supreme Court disposed off a petition by PTI lawyers on Monday, saying that the court’s concerns about Khan’s living conditions in jail had been addressed.
“As evident from the above, the petitioner has generally expressed satisfaction with the prevailing conditions of his confinement and has not raised any concerns necessitating accommodations beyond the existing level of care,” a copy of the order seen by Arab News reads.
It added that both the reports by the Supreme Court’s appointed lawyer and the government’s team corroborated this fact, which was reinforced by assurances provided by the attorney general of Pakistan.
Opposition members have gathered outside the parliament building in Islamabad and staged a sit-in protest since Friday over health concerns regarding Khan. Reports of Khan’s eye ailment have also triggered road closures in several parts of KP.
PTI Peshawar President Saleem Irfan said major roads remained blocked on Monday, including the Peshawar–Islamabad Motorway at Swabi’s Anbar Interchange, Khairabad Bridge linking Punjab with the northwestern province, the Dera Ismail Khan–Bhakkar Road, Lakki Marwat–Mianwali Road, the Hazara Motorway at the Abbottabad–Havelian Interchange, Kohat–Pindi Road near Khushal Garh, and sections of the Karakoram Highway in Upper Kohistan.
“We will continue to block these points until our demand is accepted,” he said.
