PESHAWAR: The dead body of the officer of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Brig (r) Amir Sultan Tarar, commonly known as Col Imam, has been flown out of the Data Khel area of Miranshah, North Waziristan, to Rawalpindi on Friday and will be handed over to the relatives after the completion of DNA tests.
Col Imam, along with his colleague Khalid Khwaja and a British-based journalist Asad Qureshi, was captured by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in March 2010, when he entered the North Waziristan and was subsequently executed in 2011.
Prior to his entry to the region, the trio had stayed with a former MNA associated with the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal.
Khalid Khawaja was killed by militants somewhere in April 2010 whereas Asad Qureshi was fortunately released. However, Col Imam, after being kept hostage for a year, was executed by the militants on January 24, 2011, which was shared in a video footage. Prior to his execution, the TTP militants had also released a video in which Col Imam was seen pleading for his release.
Besides serving the ISI during the Afghan war, Col Imam had also served as a diplomat in Herat province for a couple of years after the resignation of then Afghan president Dr Najib Ullah. He gained popularity with the Mujahideen as Col Imam and had escorted the Afghan fighters through different crossing points between Pakistan and Afghanistan during the time of anti-Soviet war.
Khalid Khawaja, an officer of the Pakistan Air Force, had also served the ISI along with Col Imam during the war and both of them had accompanied British journalist of Pakistani origin Asad Qureshi for reporting on the banned TTP.
