'Mir gave wrong information to Taliban about my father'

The son of a former Inter Services Intelligence official, who was abducted and killed by militants, has filed an application with the Pakistani police in which he has held popular TV anchor Hamid Mir and a Punjabi Taliban leader responsible for the murder.

Osama Khalid, the son of slain ISI official Khalid Khwaja, filed the application for the registration of a first information report at Shalimar police station in Islamabad, which has jurisdiction over the area in which Mir lives.

He sought the registration of an FIR under section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which relates to murder.

In the application, he alleged that Mir supplied "wrong information" about his father to Punjabi Taliban leader Usman Punjabi and instigated him to kill his father.

Osama also nominated the Asian Tigers and its members in his application.

The Asian Tigers, a hitherto unheard of militant group, had claimed responsibility for kidnapping and killing Khwaja.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Naeem Iqbal said police were considering the possibility of registering a case.

However, a final decision would be made after analysing the legal aspects of the case, he said.

Osama said he hoped that he would get justice.

"All material, including the tape of a conversation between Hamid Mir and Usman Punjabi, has been handed over to the police. We will also provide some sensitive material to the police at an appropriate time because it involves matters of national interest," he said.

He vowed that he would expose Mir's "deep relations with Taliban militants".

Mir has been at the centre of a controversy after a recording of a purported conversation between him and a Punjabi Taliban leader was leaked on the internet earlier this month.

Some media organisations have called for an impartial investigation into the tape.

In the conversation, Mir is heard accusing Khawaja of being a double agent working for the CIA and the Ahmedi sect.

Mir also accused Khwaja of playing a "dirty" role in the 2007 standoff between the military and radical elements holed up in the Lal Masjid in Islamabad.

Over 100 people, including hardline cleric Ghazi Abdul Rashid, were killed when the army stormed the mosque.

Khwaja was kidnapped on March 26 in Pakistan's restive tribal belt along with another former ISI official, Col Imam alias Sultan Amir Tarar, and a British journalist of Pakistani origin, Asad Qureshi.

Khwaja was shot dead on April 30 while the other two men are still being held by the Asian Tigers.

Osama alleged: "The mistake my father committed was that he told Hamid Mir that he was heading to Waziristan on a peace mission.

Mir disclosed this to his friends there.

"I have with me the call record (of the conversation between Mir and the Punjabi Taliban militant).

"The call was made on April 19 and the video of my father's confessional statement was released to the media on April 23. That is enough evidence to lay hands on the so-called journalist for his role in the killing of my father," he further alleged.