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Taliban announce amnesty for Bilour**
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani cabinet minister who put a $100,000 bounty on an anti-Islam filmmaker’s head has impressed the country’s Taliban militants, who announced on Wednesday they are taking him off their hit list.
Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour offered his $100,000 reward on Saturday for anyone who kills filmmaker Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.
Bilour also appealed to Al Qaeda and Taliban militants to help eliminate the filmmaker, while Pakistan’s government said the bounty reflected Bilour’s personal view and was not official policy.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan told The Associated Press by telephone on Wednesday that the minister’s views represent the true spirit of Islam, and that, consequently, the insurgents have removed him from their hit list.
Ehsan said that Taliban shoora paid rich tributes to Bilour and endorsed his bounty announcement,” he said.
Bilour could not immediately be reached for comment.
Interesting development. Now everyone who is on the hit list will try to please the Taliban by announcing smiliar bounties for one thing or the other.