WikiLeaks: Pak said Gitmo detainees were innocent

New Delhi: Many US Congressmen today made it clear that they don't buy Pakistan's reasons for not knowing that Osama Bin Laden was enjoying a sheltered life at a three-story mansion in Abbottabad, just down the road from its prestigious military academy.  Pakistani President Asif Zardari has insisted that his country  "did its part" even as America rejected Pakistan's claims of arming the US with critical intelligence that helped track down the world's most-wanted terrorist.

Now, as many in America and India demand clearer explanations from Pakistan, a WikiLeaks cable shows how in 2006, a Pakistani official told the Americans that the Pakistanis detained at Guantanamo Bay (there were reportedly six at the time) were "just the wrong men at the wrong place."  In fact,  Lieutenant Colonel Muhammed Imran Yaqoob (who seems to have been erroneously mentioned as Lt. Col Imran Farooq in the cable sent to Washington) petitioned the Americans to release Saifullah Paracha  - described in the Guantanamo dossiers as a senior Al Qaeda member who had direct access to Osama Bin Laden and 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Mohammed Shaikh. (Read: Pakistan cable on Islamabad stand on Guantanamo detainees)

Col Imran had toured the Guantanamo prison in August, 2006, where he allegedly met Mr Paracha in his cell.  Col Imran was then Director of the National Crisis Management Cell, which is part of Pakistan's Interior Ministry.

Upon his return to  Islamabad, he met with the political counsellor at the US embassy in Pakistan. The cable dated August 30, 2006 from  the Charge D'Affaires at the embassy, Peter W. Bodde, says the meeting was " to solicit his assessment of his visit to the detention facilities at Guantanamo (GTMO). LTC Imran said that interviews with the Pakistani detainees went well. The Pakistani delegation left with the impression that most of the Pakistani detainees are individuals who were "in the wrong place at the wrong time, not extremists who pose a serious threat."

Col Imran said that after a discussion with officers at Guantanamo Bay, " the delegation left with the impression that no major obstacles remain to the repatriation of six of the Pakistani detainees. This includes Saifullah Paracha, provided that the GOP makes arrangements to keep him in detention here in Pakistan."

Mr Paracha, now 63, is still at Guantanamo; he's the oldest of the nearly 170 detainees housed there.  He is listed as  a "high-risk detainee for the US and its allies";  his file  also categorizes him as "high intelligence value."  The dossier on him acknowledges that he is seriously unwell but warns that "If released without rehabilitation, close supervision....detainee would probably seek out prior associates and re-engage in extremist support activities at home and abroad." (Read: Who is Saifullah Paracha?)

Mr Paracha has been petitioning for a return to Pakistan.  His file states he was transferred to Guantanamo to provide information on the Al Qaeda network and the attempts to smuggle weapons of mass destruction to the US.

A Green Card holder who studied at a New York college and then worked as a travel agent in the Us for more than a decade,  Mr Paracha was arrested in July 2003 at Bangkok.  He had a Casio digital diary containing incriminating email addresses, names, numbers and references to chemical and biological agents. His wife, according to Amnesty International, was told only in August that year that he had been taken to the prison at Guantanamo Bay.  

Mr Paracha's son, Umair, was convicted in 2005 in New York for providing material support for terrorism and is serving a 30-year sentence.  

The dossier states that Mr Paracha contradicted himself about whether he had met Osama Bin Laden.  In one account, he reportedly said that he had met Bin Laden twice - the first time in either December 1999 or January 2000, and then again later in 2000.  However, he later said this was not the case.  It's because of contradictions like these that intelligence officials say  he  "has attempted to deceive and misinform" officials about his activities. (Read: Classified Guantanamo dossier offers new insight into detainees)

His many businesses that operated in Pakistan and the US were offered by him on multiple occasions for use by the  Al Qaeda, according to his dossier, which reveals "to detainee, his interaction with Al Qaeda was just business."

According to his file, Mr Paracha allegedly helped the Al Qaeda launder money via his businesses.  He facilitated the purchase of safe houses in Karachi and offered to help smuggle in explosives into America  in containers used for his textile businesses, the documents declare.  He also offered to let his broadcasting business help in spreading Bin Laden's propaganda, according to his files, at one point suggesting that Bin Laden be shown reading out verses from the Quran.

The dossier on him states that his businesses provided the Qaeda with a front for money-laundering and helped in the purchase of safe houses in Pakistan.  He offered Bin Laden the use of his media broadcasting business to film Al Qaeda propaganda and training films; in fact, he allegedly wanted to broadcast Bin Laden reading out Koranic Verses.  Containers used for  his textile business were intended to help smuggle readymade explosives into the US and his  knowledge of shipping and US port security made him a valuable asset to the terrorist group, the files state.


(As part of a special arrangement that NDTV has come to with WikiLeaks, we will be reporting on cables dispatched by American diplomats who were posted in Pakistan. We shall do this along with the DAWN of Pakistan and the Indian daily The Hindu. All the cables will be posted on wikileaks.ndtv.com. You can read this cable here.