11 Pakistanis Freed by U.S. Arrive Home

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan —  Eleven Pakistanis freed from the U.S. military prison holding suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have arrived in Pakistan, a senior Pakistani Interior Ministry official said Thursday.

Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema, head of the National Crisis Management Cell at the ministry, said Pakistani security officials planned to interrogate the men before allowing them to return to their homes. Their identities were not immediately disclosed.

The freed were among thousands of Pakistanis who allegedly fought with the Taliban regime against coalition forces in Afghanistan in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S.

They were rounded up in Afghanistan after the ouster of the Taliban in late 2001. U.S. officials later transferred them to the U.S. high-security prison in a bid to glean information about their suspected links to the Taliban and the Al Qaeda network.

Many of the Guantanamo prisoners from Pakistan are Muslims who crossed over to Afghanistan after Sept. 11 in response to a call by Pakistani clerics to participate in a jihad against “infidels.”

For months Pakistan has been talking with Washington about the release of its nationals from Guantanamo Bay. Before the new release, U.S. officials had freed four Pakistanis out of nearly 50.