Pakistan concern over Mazar 'massacre'
Monday, 26 November, 2001, 12:58 GMT BBC News
Taleban fighters from Kunduz gave themselves up

Muslim clerics in Pakistan have announced a day of mourning following reports that hundreds of Taleban prisoners have been killed near Mazar-e-Sharif.

We will observe a black day on Friday to mourn the deaths of Pakistanis

Jamaat-e-Islami's Munawwar Hasan Munawwar Hasan of the Jamaat-e-Islami party told the Associated Press that it made no sense "that people who have surrendered will revolt against their captors".

He described it as an excuse "to justify a massacre".

Foreign fighters - including Pakistanis - are believed to be among the captives.

Reports said that fighting began on Saturday in a fort near Mazar-e-Sharif when some Taleban staged a revolt.

UN regulations

The captives are believed to be from Kunduz, which has now fallen to the Northern Alliance.
 

Pakistan says UN rules should apply to prisoners

Government spokesman Rashid Qureshi said it was not yet clear what had happened in the incident.

However, he said Pakistan "wanted the UN charter regarding the treatment of prisoners to be implemented".

Earlier, Pakistan had voiced its concern over the fate of fighters in Konduz.

It had called on the UN and the American-led coalition to do whatever they could to prevent a human tragedy there.

However, the authorities in Islamabad are reluctant to comment on the widely reported involvement of volunteers from Pakistan fighting with the Taleban.

Volunteers

Some of the Pakistanis who went into Afghanistan are highly-trained militants, who have been fighting in Kashmir.

But others are untrained volunteers from areas close to Afghanistan, some of whom came from the radical Islamic group Tanzim Nifaz-e Shariat-e-Mohammed, which says many of its members are missing.

Pakistan had said that it did not want any fighters to go in to support its old ally the Taleban, although it was unable to stop them from crossing the porous border.

Many of those returning to the country have been detained for possessing unlicensed weapons or travelling without valid documents.