35 Pakistanis freed from Guantanamo

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Thirty-five Pakistani prisoners released from U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba returned home Saturday, a senior interior ministry official said.

Pakistani authorities detained the men for questioning after they arrived at a Pakistani air base near the capital Islamabad, said Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema, director-general of the National Crisis Management Cell at the Interior Ministry.

He said the men will be freed and allowed to go home after the interrogations were completed.

The Department of Defense said the 35 Pakistanis were among 191 prisoners to be released from Guantanamo Bay.

“This (Saturday’s) transfer included 29 to the control of Pakistan for continued detention, and six to Pakistan for release,” said the Department of Defense on its Web site.

Cheema was the head of a Pakistani delegation that went to Washington in May to secure the release of their citizens detained at Guantanamo Bay.

On Saturday, he told the Associated Press that the release of the 35 Pakistanis was the result of their “successful talks with the U.S. officials.”

He said in May they had told the U.S. officials that Pakistanis detained at Guantanamo Bay were not members of Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network, and that the men had gone to Afghanistan in response to appeals by Islamic leaders, who at the time were telling everybody to participate in jihad, or holy war, against the United States.

“We are happy that most of our people came back today.” he said.

Cheema said about five or six Pakistanis are still to be released by the U.S. officials, but he hopes that they would also come back soon.

He would not say why those men were not freed by the U.S. authorities, however.

The release of the prisoners came a day before President Gen. Pervez Musharraf leaves for the United States to address the U.N. General Assembly session.