KARACHI: Before his death in a US drone attack in 2016, Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour had purchased a ‘life insurance’ policy from a private company in Pakistan using a fake identity, it emerged at the hearing of a terror funding case against him and his absconding accomplices on Saturday.

The insurance company confirmed it to an anti-terrorism court in Karachi at the hearing of the case registered against him and his accomplices by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) last year.

It emerged during the investigation that the Taliban leader and his accomplices were involved in generating funds for terrorist activities through the purchase of properties on the basis of ‘forged identities’. He had purchased five properties including plots and houses, estimated to be valued at Rs32 million, in Karachi.

Sources in the FIA told Dawn that when the matter was taken up before the court, the investigating officer appeared along with an official of the Pakistani insurance company and filed a report on its behalf. The report explained that it emerged during investigation that Mullah Akhtar Mansour had purchased a ‘life insurance’ policy by using a fake identity and had paid up to Rs300,000 to the company before his death in the drone attack on May 21, 2016.

Warrants out for Peshawar, Quetta land revenue officers over Mullah Akhtar Mansour’s properties

While showing willingness to return the principal amount that he had paid, the insurance company had presented a cheque worth Rs300,000 to the investigators for depositing it to the court so that the amount could be deposited in the government treasury, the sources said. “However, the FIA investigators returned the cheque asking the company to pay the principal amount along with premium so that the whole amount could be deposited to the government treasury,” the sources added.

On Saturday, the insurance company deposited a cheque worth Rs350,000 with the court, which had on Sept 24 ordered the company to deposit the amount paid by the slain Taliban leader for his life insurance policy before he was killed, the judicial sources confirmed to Dawn.

Also on a court directive, a property owned by Mullah Mansour in Karachi had been auctioned for Rs9,200,000 and the amount had been deposited with the court Nazir for depositing it in the government treasury, they said.

Properties in Peshawar, Quetta

The sources said that non-bailable warrants were again issued for the arrest of Quetta and Peshawar Mukhtiarkars (land revenue officers) for not appearing before the court to submit their respective reports as to whether the Taliban leader and his accomplices also owned properties in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as required under Section 88 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Previously, the court had ordered the authorities concerned in Peshawar and Quetta to stop salaries of the two officers for not submitting their reports despite the court directives.

The judge also sought reports from two private banks, Allied Bank Ltd and Bank Al-Falah, regarding the accounts purportedly obtained and operated by the Afghan Taliban leader and/or his accomplices along with details of the money deposited/transacted through them.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2020