Former Pakistani spy kidnapped by militants threatens to reveal state secrets

Ex-Pakistani spy held by militants demands help

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — A former Pakistani spy kidnapped by militants four months ago in northwestern Pakistan threatened in a video to expose the government’s “weaknesses” unless it frees prisoners to secure his release as demanded by his captors.

Sultan Amir Tarar, also known as Col. Imam, did not provide further details in the video obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday. But he likely possesses significant knowledge about his former employer, the country’s most powerful spy agency, and its overseer, the military.

Both organizations have been battling local Taliban militants and their allies who have declared war on the state because they deem it unIslamic and resent its close alliance with the United States.

“You people are fully aware of the role I played for the nation and my country during my service,” said Imam, reading from a written statement with two masked gunmen behind him. “But if the government of Pakistan does not care for me, I will also not care for it and will expose all its weaknesses.”

Imam said he was being held by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami, believed to be an offshoot of an anti-Shiite Muslim militant group that has increasingly set its sights on the government. A different group calling itself the Asian Tigers claimed to be holding the men soon after they were abducted in late March.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami has demanded that Pakistan release nearly 160 militants held in prison, including several suspected suicide bombers and men facing trial for the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Imam said that he has sent statements to the government asking for help, but it has not responded. He did not reveal his location but said he has been living in a basement during his captivity.

“You know what kind of mentality these people have and what they can do,” said Imam in the video.

Imam disappeared in late March along with another ex-intelligence official, Khalid Khawaja, and a filmmaker. Khawaja was found shot dead near a road in late April in North Waziristan, part of Pakistan’s semiautonomous tribal area near the Afghan border that is teeming with militants. There has been no word on the fate of the filmmaker.

It is unclear why Imam and Khawaja made the trip to the tribal regions, which are highly dangerous for outsiders. Extremists there are very wary of potential spies because of the key role of human intelligence in directing U.S. missile attacks.

A printed note attached to Khawaja’s body accused him of spying for the CIA and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, where he and Imam used to work.

Both men were known to be sympathetic to al-Qaida and the Taliban, and Imam helped the latter group seize power in Afghanistan in the 1990s. Many analysts believe the Pakistani government continues to maintain links with the Taliban, often through former spies like Imam and Khawaja.

The kidnapping of the two men points to the complexity of the situation in the tribal areas, where militants linked to the government and those fighting the state often coexist.

Pakistani analysts have speculated that the men may not have understood that younger militant groups in the northwest would not necessarily appreciate their militant sympathies.

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Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed contributed to this report from Islamabad.