Pakistan has reportedly freed a senior al-Qaeda commander, who served as a bodyguard to Osama bin Laden.Amin al-Haq had escaped from Afghanistan with the al-Qaeda leader in 2001. He later became a Osama’s key financial aide. Pakistani intelligence agency (ISI)detained him in Lahore about three years ago.
According to the UK newspaper The Telegraph, a senior security source in the north-western Pakistani town of Peshawar, where he had been held, said the ISI had passed al-Haq on to the police before he was released earlier this month.
"Amin al-Haq had been arrested mistakenly, therefore, the police failed to prove any charge of his association with Osama bin Laden and the court set him free," he told The Daily Telegraph.
This move by Pakistan comes at the time when the country’s commitment to tackle terrorism has come under fire from the US.
Recently, US Adml Mike Mullen had accused the country of having ties with the Haqqani network and waging a proxy war on US troops in Afghanistan via them.
US has been putting increasing pressure on Pakistan to take action against the terrorist group. However, Pakistan has been defiant in its stand and has refused to act against the network.
