The Taliban will attack government, police and military officials if three of the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s widows are not released from custody, a spokesman for the militant group said on Friday. The government has charged bin Laden’s three widows with illegally entering and staying in the country, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Thursday. “If the family of Osama bin Laden is not released as soon as possible, we will attack the judges, the lawyers and the security officials involved in their trial,” Ehsanullah Ehsan of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) told Reuters. “We will carry out suicide bombings against security forces and the government across the country.” Malik did not specify which court was dealing with the case.
The three women will have to stand trial, but it was not clear what punishment they face if convicted. TTP’s spokesman also threatened attacks against Shad Begum, a women’s rights activist based in Peshawar. The US State Department honored Begum with the 2012 International Women of Courage award at a ceremony in Washington on Thursday. “She works for a secular and infidel system in Pakistan,” Ehsan said. “That is why America has given her this prize.”
