Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil was born in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan. He was one of the young students and trained individuals of former Pakistani General Hamid Gul.
In the 1980s, during the Afghan Jihad against the Soviet Union, he used to enter Afghanistan alongside Jalaluddin Haqqani and was very active. He had his own independent front in the Zhawar area of Khost.
After the fall of Kabul, Khalil also came to Khost with his Punjabi group, but when internal conflicts began in Afghanistan, he returned to Pakistan and formed a group called Harakat-ul-Mujahideen, which was spreading terror in Kashmir.
Khalil’s name became famous in the media when an Indian Airlines flight 814 was hijacked from Kathmandu, Nepal, on December 24, 1999.
The plane went to the United Arab Emirates and Lahore, but was not allowed to land. Eventually, it landed in Kandahar. The hijackers demanded the release of Pakistani terrorists held in India. Negotiations were underway with Indian authorities, led by Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh.
Maulvi Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, the chief of staff of Mullah Muhammad Omar, was negotiating on behalf of the Taliban, while Mullah Jalil, the then Political Assistant to the Afghan Foreign Ministry, was negotiating with the Pakistani side.
Eventually, after seven days, the following three Pakistani terrorists were released by India:
- Mullah Masood Azhar, who later formed a group called Jaish-e-Muhammad in Pakistan.
- Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a Pakistani-British militant involved in the kidnapping of Western tourists in India and the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl.
- Mushtaq Ahmed Omar Zargar, leader of the Al-Umar Mujahideen group in Pakistani Kashmir.
They were released, and the plane returned to India with around 170 passengers.
It was alleged that Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil was a key member of the terrorist plot, including the Pakistani ISI, which is why his name became famous in the media.
When the Taliban were ruling Afghanistan in their first period, after the Kandahar incident, Khalil re-activated his Mujahideen group in Afghanistan and fought against the Northern Alliance alongside Jalaluddin Haqqani.
At that time, the Kabul-based Rishkhor faction was with Pakistani and Uzbek Taliban, and Khalil was a prominent leader. His hands are stained with the blood of hundreds of Afghans during these wars.
Qasim halimi an afghan scholar told, Khalil met me three times. The first time was in early 2000, in the Minister Akbar Khan area of Kabul. A Pakistani named Sohail was living there, who was the brother-in-law of Yasir Wardag, |a friend of Qasim Halimi scholar| as Yasir’s wife is Pakistani and her sister, Mrs. Ishrat, was married to Sohail.
This Pakistani, Sohail, was living in wazir Akbar Khan and was the financial head of Khalil’s group. Yasir had invited Qasim halimi to Sohail’s house, where he introduced Khalil and Sohail to him as shining stars of the Afghan Jihad.
The second time Qasim Halimi told, he saw him in 2001, at the Al-Rashid Trust office in Minister Akbar Khan. This was when America had started its invasion of Afghanistan. Qasim said he was, sent by Mullah Jalil to this office to collect food aid for the military guards of the Foreign Ministry.
This institution was established by Pakistani cleric Mufti Rashid Ahmad. Initially, it was claimed to be for Afghan refugees, but later it was revealed to be a major hub for terrorists, and Khalil was a central member.
In 2003, when Qasim was a prisoner in Bagram, a member of Al-Rashid Trust was arrested in Kandahar and transferred to Bagram. An Afghan from Konar, Walid Majrooh, who now lives in America, was translating for this prisoner.
This Pakistani cleric, a member of Al-Rashid Trust from Baluchistan and a Pashtun by tribe, told the Americans in his statement: “Why have you arrested me? We have helped you. The ISI has provided you with the Taliban’s military centers and hideouts, all with the cooperation of Al-Rashid Trust, and especially our leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil has provided this service to you, so you should release me.”
Majrooh personally asked Qasim about Khalil, whether he knew him or had met him. he gave him the same information. Whether Majrooh shared this information with the Americans later, don’t know.
But Majrooh was a patriotic Afghan. When he heard this Pakistani terrorist’s words, he came to Qasim prison cell, furious with a black-faced. When Qasim asked him, he told, this story and said: “These wicked people are playing both sides.”
The last time Qasim says I, saw this gentleman was when I went to Islamabad as part of a delegation of scholars to meet with Pakistani scholars during the Republic period.
There, I saw that this gentleman was again sitting in the meeting as a representative of the scholars. When the conversation started, I told him: “You and I met at Sohail’s house in Kabul, and your friend was also a prisoner in Bagram.” He said: “Yes, I remember, he was released,” Religious scholar Qasim said.
Now that he has come to Kabul again as a representative of the scholars, it occurred to me |Qasim an afghan scholar} that the rulers of Kabul should be vigilant. Sometimes the enemy wears the cloak of a friend, and we don’t know which places he might mark with GPS for the ISI, scholar Qasim Halimi told.
Qasim Halimi told, these agents of ISI always cheated Afghans, so Afghan govt should be careful about them.
By- Laiba Yousafzai
