Pakistan cracks down on officials who helped Mansour get CNIC

QUETTA: Law enforcers on Saturday launched a crackdown against officials who helped Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mansour aka Wali Mohammad get Pakistani identity.

A senior officer of Levies and an employee of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) was arrested from Quetta and Karachi in this regard.

Sources in the Ministry of Interior confirmed that the officials were arrested in raids carried out in Quetta and Karachi. One of the suspects Aziz Ahmed, an official of the Levies, was accused of verifying application form of Wali Mohammad in 2001.

The sources further revealed that the other suspect, identified as Rifat Iqbal, was taken into custody from Karachi for allegedly making efforts to help the second wife and children of the fugitive militant leader acquire Pakistani citizenship.

Iqbal was an employee of the NADRA and went into hiding after a US drone targeted a car in Noshki area of Balochistan, killing Wali Mohammad.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has launched a drive to re-verify Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs) of all citizens after a Pakistani passport and CNIC was recovered near the site of the drone attack that killed the Afghan Taliban leader.