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Pakistan Optimistic for Release of 26 of its Citizens From Guantanamo, Bagram

By Munir Ahmad
Associated Press
August 19, 2006

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan is optimistic that the U.S. will release 26 of its citizens held at Guantanamo Bay and the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan on suspicion of terrorism links, a senior official said Saturday.

The 26 men were among dozens of Pakistanis captured during and after U.S.-led attacks on Afghanistan, prompted by the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, toppled the former Taliban regime for sheltering Osama bin Laden.

Washington has so far freed 68 Pakistanis from its prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but at least six others are still held there, said the official, who traveled to Guantanamo days ago and met with the Pakistani prisoners.

He said 20 more are being held at the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan at Bagram, which he visited earlier this month.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to policy, said Pakistan was "optimistic" that all 26 would return home soon.

U.S. officials had asked for a formal request for their release, and Pakistan would submit it next week, he said.

U.S. officials could not be immediately reached Saturday for comment.

Pakistan is a key ally of Washington in its anti-terror campaign, and the government says its security agencies have turned over 700 al-Qaida suspects to U.S. officials after arresting them around the country since Sept. 11.

However, the government has since been pushing for release of its citizens who are still detained.

The six held at Guantanamo include an alleged al-Qaida financier, businessman Saifullah Paracha. He was arrested at Bangkok's international airport in July 2003.

His son Uzair Paracha, 26, was arrested in the United States in 2003. Last month a court there sentenced him to 30 years in jail for agreeing to help an al-Qaida man sneak into the U.S. to carry out a chemical attack.

So far, U.S. authorities have not registered any case against Saifullah Paracha, who denies terrorist links.

The official said Saifullah Paracha told him that he met with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan before the Sept. 11 attacks to raise funds for welfare work, and maintained that he had nothing to do with terrorism.

Paracha also claimed that his son was innocent, the official said.

Most of the Pakistanis freed from Guantanamo have spent a year under detention in Pakistan upon their return, before being released without charge.

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