Was against handing over Mullah Baradar to Afghan govt, says Chaudhry Nisar

• Nisar says he always held the view that Pakistan should treat Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar with dignity.
• Baradar is one of the co-founders of the Taliban.
• Pakistan handed him over to the Afghan govt in 2018.

ISLAMABAD: Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar said Wednesday he was opposed to the Pakistan government's decision of handing overMullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, now the deputy leader of the Taliban and chief of the movement's political office in Doha.

In an exclusive interview that would be aired on Geo News' programme Jirga on Saturday, the former interior minister said he had always held the view that Baradar should be treated with dignity.

"Weshould have turned him to our side," he said.

When asked what then prime minister Nawaz Sharif and the military leadership of the time thought about handing over Baradar to the Afghan government, Nisar said it was better if they spoke about it themselves.

Who is Mullah Baradar?

Baradar was raised in Kandahar -- the birthplace of the Taliban movement.

Like most Afghans, Baradar's life was forever altered by the Soviet invasion of the country in the late 1970s, transforming him into an insurgent.

He was believed to have fought side-by-side with the one-eyed Mullah Omar.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is one of four men, including Mullah Omar, who founded the Taliban movement in 1994. He served in important positions when the Taliban were in power in Afghanistan from 1996-2001.

He fled to Pakistan after the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and toppled the Taliban government. Baradar was arrested in 2010 from Karachi and was released later at the request of the US, in 2018 to kickstart the negotiations with the Taliban.

Baradar, given his position as the head of the Taliban's political office in Doha, was spearheading the Taliban's negotiations with world powers in Qatar.

He had signed the troop withdrawal with the US in Doha.