A terrorist is a terrorist, regardless of what party he hails from. Why does Jamali govt have to jump so high?
no wonder fbi doesn’t want to inform isi and ib in advance!
Dr Khawaja, kin’s arrest by FBI
ISI, IB kept in the dark
By Ziaullah Niazi
LAHORE: For the first time neither the ISI nor the IB were taken into confidence by the FBI to arrest Dr Ahmad Javed Khawaja and his eight family members from his GT Road Manawan residence on Thursday, the interior ministry sources told The News.
They said the FBI was assisted by Punjab Police’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) and Elite Force. The name of Dr Khawaja was disclosed to the US agencies by the Taliban prisoners detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, about his links with them. The FBI was informed that the doctor remained in touch with Taliban after September 11 terrorism. After the US-led forces’ attack on Afghanistan, Dr Khawaja provided sheltered some top Taliban leaders and also helped them financially, the agencies were told.
The FBI sought interior ministry’s assistance after the Jamali government took over. The federal government directed the Lahore CID to provide every possible assistance to the FBI in arresting Dr Khawaja.
The main objective behind establishing the CID during the Sharifs regime was to counter sectarianism, but the present government has assigned it the task of curbing all kinds of terrorism, the sources maintained.
Intelligence sources said neither the ISI nor the IB submitted any report about Dr Khawaja sheltering Taliban or having any link with them.
The sources said soon after the arrest, Dr Khawaja along with his arrested family members were taken to the CID’s Gulberg office, from where they were taken to the FBI’s head office at Islamabad by a special flight.
The sources said Dr Amir Aziz was also kept at the same place at Gulberg after he was picked up by the FBI.The sources said that in the past, when any such arrests were made, the suspects were kept in the custody of Pakistani agencies, where they were interrogated jointly by the local agency and the FBI. “But this time all the arrested people are in the custody of the FBI, where they are being interrogated by its men alone”, the sources added. The sources were of the view that at the FBI office, the arrested would be told to disclose the names of the Taliban leaders whom they allegedly hosted.
They said more raids of FBI are expected in Lahore for the arrests of some influential people, especially from religious parties and outfits, for suspected Taliban links. They said another group of influential people residing in Gulberg, Lahore, was under observation for sheltering some prominent Taliban. A platform of a social welfare organization was used to carry out all the activities, the sources said.
“The Jamali government is making hectic efforts for the immediate release of Dr Khawaja and his family members to avoid clash with the MMA in the National Assembly session called in the last week of this month”, they maintained. They were of the view that if Dr Khawaja and his family members are not released before the NA session, it might put the country into another political crisis, as Jamali would have to take vote of confidence in this session.
Meanwhile, a handout by the Director General Public Relations (DGPR) Punjab, claimed that under the directive of Punjab Chief Minister Ch Pervaiz Elahi, four arrested persons Hassan Ahmad, Muhammad Ali Khawaja, Ahmad Nadeem Khawaja and Muhammad Farooq, who were found innocent, have been released. The CM directed Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab to provide justice to the remaining arrested persons also, the handout says.
Interestingly quoting some Home Department ‘sources’ the DGPR said three arrested persons had foreign citizenship including two Americans and one Canadian. Local police is investigating Pakistani nationals involved in the incident, whereas the foreign nationals are being investigated by a federal agency. The DGPR sources claimed a Kalashnikov and other weapons were recovered from the arrested persons along with US$109,000 and Afghan currency worth Rs 95,000. A few Arab women were also present in the house at the time of raid but they were not arrested, the DGPR handout said quoting sources.
The DGPR further quoted a spokesman of the Punjab Government contradicting a news item that the arrested persons were handed over to a foreign agency. The spokesman said that all the arrested persons have not been handed over to any foreign agency. He further stated that all the moral formalities were completely kept in view during the raid.
When contacted Dr. Ahmad Khawaja’s house to confirm the release of above mentioned persons, his nephew Rehman Baig said they themselves came to know through the news bulletin of the PTV. He said neither the persons, according to the government claim that they have released, reached home nor government official had contacted the family in this regard till the filing of this report.