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| Secret document confirms Hameed Gul wanted by US |
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Claims ex-ISI chief provided financial assistance to criminal groups, involved in recruiting, training seminaries’ students
Sunday, December 07, 2008
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: A secret US document, marked as releasable to the Government of Pakistan, has linked former Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt-Gen (retd) Hamid Gul to the Taliban and al-Qaeda networks.
The two-page unsigned document had already been provided to the government, a knowledgeable source revealed to The News here on Saturday on condition of anonymity.
He said Gul had been charged in the paper with providing financial assistance to Kabul-based criminal groups and involvement in spotting, assessing, recruiting and training young men from seminaries.
The recruits are reportedly trained for attacks on the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan. The ex-general, according to the source, has been accused of assisting the Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in developing high-tech weapons.
In Washington, the State Departmentís Deputy Spokesman Robert Wood had declined to comment on earlier reports that such a list had been sent to the UN. “If we decide to send names, we will let the media know,” he responded to a question on the subject on Thursday.
But the document seen by The News reveals the US had sent the name of Lt-Gen Hameed Gul to the Government of Pakistan.
Gul is one of the five erstwhile ISI officials whose names Washington has recommended to the UN Security Council for inclusion in the list of international terrorists. When contacted by this scribe, Gul laughed off the charges which, according to him, are simply hilarious. He promised to come up with a para-wise response to the charges levelled against him on Sunday or Monday.
As per the paper, his name is spelled as Lieutenant General (retired) Hamid Gul, Hameed Gul and Haimid Gul. He was born on March 14, 1937 in Sargodha, reads the document, which says his address is Defence Colony in Peshawar, though he lives in Rawalpindi.
His passport number, according to the document, is BA479001. “Lieutenant General (retired) Hamid Gul was Director-General of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from 1987-1989.
“Hamid Gul has maintained extensive contacts over the years with Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives located in Pakistan, providing financial support and encouragement to these groups.”
It claimed: “In 2005, Hamid Gul provided general, over-arching guidance to the Taliban leadership on operational activities in Afghanistan. In 2008, Hamid Gul was in contact with the militant group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its leadership, including Baitullah Mahsud, and provided the TTP leadership and operatives with guidance on the conduct of militant operations in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.”
Since at least 2005, the paper says, Hameed Gul has also provided financial and material support to the Taliban and has supported militant training camps in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. As of late 2006, Gul allegedly directed a Taliban operative to head a militant training camp.
“Hamid Gul was a regular contact for Sirajuddin Haqqani and regularly apprised Sirajuddin of Pakistan government activity in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA),”the document continues.
Haqqani is a top Taliban commander, added to the UN 1,267 Committee’s consolidated list of individuals and entities associated with al-Qaeda or the Taliban on September 13, 2007. He was named specially designated global terrorist pursuant to EO 13224 on March 11, 2008.
“As of early 2007, Gul was involved in spotting, assessing, and recruiting young men from various Pakistani Madrassas for training in eventual attacks against US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan. The training consisted of techniques for laying mines, arson and suicide bombings. As of late 2006, Gul was also involved in the training camps.
“In late 2006, Gul provided money to a Kabul-based criminal group for every International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) member that the group kidnapped and turned over to the Taliban.
“In addition to these kidnapping-for-ransom activities, this criminal group sold weapons and explosives to the Taliban and acted as travel facilitators for Taliban members in Afghanistan.”
Gul was on the board of directors of Umman Tameer-e-Nau (UTN), a non-governmental organisation formed to help the Taliban and al-Qaeda networks develop high-tech weapons, the paper charges.
The UN 1,267 Committee added the UTN to its consolidated list of individuals and entities associated with al-Qaeda or the Taliban on December 24, 2001.
The UTN was named a specially designated global terrorist pursuant to EO 13,224 on December 20, 2001. “As of mid-2008, Gul has knowledge of the resettlement of al-Qaeda members from Iraq to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.”
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ISSN 1563-9479 
