Taliban spokesman said that the captives were released on the occasion of Eid.



Four Turkish engineers kidnapped by Taliban more than eight months ago were freed overnight, their abductors and officials said.



The men, taken captive last December in eastern Afghanistan s Paktia province, were handed to the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) in the neighboring province of Ghazni, reported a news agency.



"We were kidnapped by the Taliban eight and a half months ago. We re released on the occasion of the Eid by Ameer-ul Momineen Mullah Mohammad Omar," one of the captives said, referring to the Taliban leader.

The Turk, who gave his name only as Imam, said "no ransom was paid" and "we were not tortured" while in captivity, before being rushed to Ghazni city.



Authorities refused to give details but Haji Zahir, a Ghazni province tribal elder who facilitated the release, said that the Taliban freed the four "only on the occasion of Eid."



Eid al-Fitr is a major Muslim festival which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. The release of prisoners at this time is an Afghan tradition.



"Yes we freed the four Turkish engineers on the occasion of the Eid," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said.



Turkey has hundreds of military troops operating under the US-led NATO force in Afghanistan, in a deadly decade-long conflict.

Altaf shifted to home from hospital
LONDON: MQM Chief Altaf Hussain has been shifted to home from local hospital after recovering from illness, Geo News reported on Sunday.

According to MQM Spokesman, Altaf Hussain has returned home after recovering from illness. He was admitted to a local hospital over the past few days for treatment.

Talking to Rabitta Committee members, Altaf Hussain thanked all the party workers and common masses who prayed for his well-being. He vowed to continue struggle till his last breath.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani tribal elders are holding talks with Taliban militants in Afghanistan for the release of scores of young tribesmen kidnapped during an outing along the border, officials said on Sunday.

The teenage tribesmen from Pakistan’s northwestern Bajaur tribal region were abducted by the militants on Thursday while they were on an outing in Afghanistan’s border province of Kunar on the Muslim festival of Eid.

“A tribal jirga (council) from Bajaur is currently holding talks with the terrorists,” Pakistan military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said.

“The future course of action will be decided by tribal elders from both sides of the border.”

Pakistani government officials had initially said around 60 boys from the ethnic Pashtun Mamoun tribe took part in the outing. But about 20 below ten years were allowed to return to Pakistan, while up to 40 others between 12 to 14 years old were held.

Abbas said in total 40 young tribesmen were abducted. He said 10 of the boys were released while 30 were still in custody.

Under centuries-old tribal customs, tribesmen living along the frontier can freely move across the border.

A spokesman for Pakistani Taliban, many of whom have fled into Afghanistan in the face of Pakistan military offensives in Bajaur, on Saturday claimed responsibility for the kidnappings as punishment against the tribe for supporting the military.

The Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said they had a plan of mass-scale kidnappings and expected people in large number to visit the border region on Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramazan.

Sultan Zeb, a tribal elder in Bajaur, said militants loyal to Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, the top Taliban commander in Bajaur who Pakistani authorities say has also fled to Afghanistan, were involved in the kidnapping.

“We have established contact with the Taliban through their relatives and friends and we hope they will release the abducted people very soon. The kidnappers have not made demand for ransom or any other demand for the release,” he told Reuters by telephone from Bajaur.

The Mamoun tribe is opposed to al Qaeda and Taliban and has raised militias to fight them, angering militants who often hit back with bombings and shooting attacks.

Pakistan late last month lodged a protest with the Afghan government after officials said hundreds of militants from Afghanistan launched a raid on Pakistani border posts in northwestern Chitral district, killing up to 36 people, most of them soldiers.

Twenty-seven Pakistani servicemen and 45 militants died in clashes in July when some 600 militants from Afghanistan attacked Pakistani border villages.

Iran says India paid all $5 bln of oil debts IRNA
TEHRAN: India has paid off all oil debts accumulated this year due to a sanctions-related problem, Central Bank Governor Mahmoud Bahmani told the official IRNA news agency on Sunday.

"Although all the $5 billion of India's oil debt has been cleared, because of selling oil again Iran will always be a creditor of that country," Bahmani said, adding the payment was received in cash and not in kind through a bartering system. "So far, Iran has not had a bartering system with India for receiving oil debts but if it happens it would be for those products which are of a high quality and are needed by Iran," he said.

Reshuffling in Sindh cabinet after Mirza’s hysteric exit
KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari has sounded reshuffling in the Sindh cabinet to his party leaders, as several ministers’ portfolios change is on the cards after Zulfiquar Mirza was unceremoniously shown the door, Geo News reported.

Meanwhile, Federal Minister, Syed Khurshid Shah is expected to hold a meeting with the Sindh Governor at the Governor House today beginning the post Mirza era. It may be recalled that the chief minister after Mirza’s hysteric outbursts hurriedly accepting his resignation as minister had sent the summary to the Governor, which led to the decision of reshuffling in the Sindh cabinet and President Zardari has already held a meeting on the subject.

It is believed that Mirza’s departments of works, services and forests would be given to the PPP ministers, while the portfolios of the four PPP ministers would be given to Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), if they by any means agree to join the Sindh cabinet.

Sources said that Syed Khurshid Shah on the directive of the President would be initiating negotiations with the MQM on matters relating to political affairs including MQM’s returning into the fold of the government.

Syed Khurshid Shah told a press conference in Sukkur that the talks with Muttahida were underway and replying a question added, “Even anyone’s father cannot divide Sindh”.

After Rahman Malik and Babar Awan, the President has given the responsibility to Khurshid Shah for holding talks with Muttahida.

Sources said that Khurshid Shah has expressed the hope that the MQM ministers would be re-taking charges of their ministries from Monday and MQM’s Rabita Committee would soon take a final decision in this regard.