“As you are aware, that few media outlets published rumours last week about my detention by the UAE security officials. So, I am going to state few short sentences and explore all the reasons behind the incident and thus highlight the facts in this regard to keep you also aware of all the things,” Agha Jan Mutasim explained in his written statement sent to The News on Thursday.
After his mysterious disappearance, there were rumours that he had gone missing in the UAE and some members of the Afghan Taliban even insisted in their private discussions that he had been kidnapped.
Agha Jan Mutasim said that almost a month ago, his closeparty members, sympathetic circles and few other friends informed him that some specific vicious circles and enemies of peace and the country (Afghanistan) planed an assassination attempt against him and that they wanted to eliminate him by doing so.
“Due to the fact, I was strictly advised to maintain my security properly. The UAE officials had also received such information of murder attempt. Since, they are always sensitive and serious about protection of all those dignitaries relevant with academic and social field and living legally in this country, so according to their plan about my protection, they advised me to shift to a more secured area in the capital temporarily,” the former Taliban leader recalled.
“To save my life, I considered their advises important and moved for few days to a premise previously preferred by the authorities.”
He said that to foil the attempts of the enemy, whom he didn’t mention, he remained disconnected with all of his party friends, political personalities and media outlets by any mean.“Now as the UAE authorities told me that the danger of the enemy assault has reduced and even it has been doomed to the failure and I feel myself by the grace of Allah protected, so the authorities of the UAE got me back to my previous residence,” Agha Jan Mutasim said.
He appreciated the UAE authorities for the measures they had taken for protection.“I assure to all of my Talib friends, sympathizers and the rest of Afghan nation that my peaceful political and Jihadi efforts would remain continued. I seek help of my almighty Lord and cooperation of my nation in this regard,” he said.
He said that as a strong, peaceful, free, united and developed Afghanistan is the only wish of every Afghan, so he wanted to clarify that the nation would find him wherever and whenever his sacrifice was needed in achieving this goal.
“I am happy and secured now and wish from Allah to shower happiness, peace and prosperity upon our suffered nation and to protect our country from evil of war and invaders.During the Taliban regime, Agha Jan Mutasim was a leading figure and finance minister.
He later became head of Taliban finance commission and remained close to Mulla Mohammad Omar after the Taliban rule was overthrown as a result of US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Agha Jan later developed serious differences with the Taliban leadership about the pattern of peace talks with the Afghan government. In 2010, he was shot and injured on leg in Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan. He was later taken to Kabul and then shifted to Turkey for treatment. He now had established his own faction of the Taliban and secured loyalties of a number of former and present Taliban members to his faction. According to sources close to him in the UAE, he has three wives and a number of children. Two of his wives along with their children are based in Turkey, while he himself is living with a wife and some children in Dubai in the UAE for the past one-and-half year, one of his close circles told The News from Dubai on telephone.
Pleading anonymity, he said Agha Jan has been in touch with the Afghan government and held several meetings with his like-minded people in the Taliban in the UAE.He said some the activities of Agha Jan had seriously perturbed senior members of the Afghan Taliban and they complained the UAE authorities to stop him from creating rifts among their commanders.
