ISLAMABAD, 19 July 2003 — Authorities here began yesterday debriefing 11 Pakistanis who had been held at the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, a day after their return, officials said. US authorities had told their Pakistani counterparts 13 prisoners would be released but only 11 arrived overnight aboard a special plane, an Interior Ministry official said. “We are not yet aware of the reasons for releasing two less than the indicated number,” ministry spokesman Brig. Javed Cheema said.
He did not say how long the questioning would take or when they would be allowed to return to their homes. Fifteen Pakistanis prisoners have so far been released from the controversial Camp X-Ray while 43 remain under detention.
The 11 freed Pakistanis are recovering in an Islamabad hospital, a government spokesman said. Interior Ministry spokesman Iftikhar Ahmed said that the long journey would tire anyone. “Don’t forget they were coming from a long detention,” he said, referring to their 18-month ordeal.
Ahmed said the 11 would be allowed to go home after recuperating from fatigue and any illness. It was the second group of prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay and followed discussions on the prisoner issue between Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Bush administration officials during a recent visit to Washington.
Five prisoners were released earlier this year with no charges pressed against them. One sent a legal notice to US authorities demanding compensation for wrongful confinement.
A total of 58 Pakistanis were captured in Afghanistan in November 2001 after the fall of hard-line Taleban regime in a US-led campaign. They were suspected of being members of the Taleban militia its allies in Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network. Thousands of Pakistanis, many of them young students at religious schools in remote rural areas, went to Afghanistan to support the Taleban against the US-led coalition.
