Islamabad, Oct 30: A son-in-law of Afghanistan's fundamentalist former premier, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, has been arrested in the Pakistani capital by US and Pakistani intelligence agents, a security official said today.
Doctor Ghairat Baheer was picked up in a pre-dawn raid yesterday from his Islamabad residence by US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and local intelligence operatives, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Baheer's computers and personal files as well as his two security guards and two house maids were also arrested during the raid.
The head of the interior ministry's crises management cell, Brigadier Javed Cheema, refused to confirm or deny the detention.
Hekmatyar, whose whereabouts remain a mystery, has called at least twice in recent months for jihad, or holy war, against US-led coalition troops in Afghanistan where they are hunting al-Qaeda and Taliban remnants.
Baheer was taken in for questioning on Hekmatyar's whereabouts, the official said.
Hekmatyar and his followers have been named as possible perpetrators of a chain of blasts in Kabul in recent months, including the massive car bomb on September 5 in a busy marketplace which killed 30 people and injured 100.
Afghan and foreign intelligence officials believe he may have teamed up with Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants to mount a campaign to destabilise the Afghan government.
His Hezb-e-Islami Party was the main recipient of military aid from Pakistan during the Mujahedin's war against the 1979-89 soviet occupation of Afghanistan, during which he was based in Peshawar.
Bureau Report
