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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistani's family shocked by Al Qaeda arrest |
| 2003-03-02 |
| Yes, SHOCKED! The sister of a Pakistani arrested in a swoop that authorities say also netted the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks has said he was the only man present at the time of the raid and had no ties to any extremist group. If there was nobody there but him, how'd they catch anybody but him? Pakistani authorities said on Saturday local time they had arrested three Al Qaeda suspects in an early morning raid on a house in the city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad. Those held included Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and 41-year-old Pakistani Ahmed Quddus, they said. An intelligence source said the third man was an Egyptian national, but gave no details. You don't suppose it was Ayman, do you? I mean, they'd have told us, right? However, members of Quddus's family said he was the only person arrested in a raid by 20 to 25 security men armed with Kalashnikov rifles on their house in Westridge, a middle-class area of Rawalpindi at 22:30 GMT Friday. "That's right. It was all pretend..." "My brother was the only man in the house when the raid took place," his sister Qudsia Khanum said. "He was taken away while his wife and kids were herded into a room and locked in. They didn't even know when they took him... or where. My brother has never been involved in any bad things. "'Course, that depends on whether you consider killing infidels a bad thing..." "Actually, he's a bit slow, he's not very clever, so I can't even begin to imagine that he could be involved with any terrorist organisation. "They used to call him Captain Dummschitz in school. I can't imagine how he's risen to his present position in life. I mean, he's really not much smarter than broccoli..." "He does not have any links with any terrorist organisation. "Except for JI, of course. But that can't be a terrorist organization, because somebody will kill you if you say it is..." "They're saying such strange things about him in the press. He's been living in the neighbourhood for 15 years and everyone knows him to be a placid person," she said. "He's kind of like a potato, only with feet." Ms Qudsia said her mother was a district administrator of Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's largest Islamic political party, and her father a retired microbiologist who used to work for the United Nations and had lived abroad. She said he was in Lahore for a wedding at the time of the raid. "I rushed right home as soon as I got the news. I missed the shootout and the part where the bride was beaten up for the first time. I was really quite disappointed." "He's a heart patient so we had to break the news gently to him," she said. "Mom! Where's the defibrillator?" |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #5 I thought denial was just a river in Egypt. I think I'll have another helping of broccoli. |
| Posted by: john 2003-03-02 19:35:36 |
| #4 Isn’t it odd that these Pakistanis, become surprised about every matter. But they sure are clever and leave no chance for bashing America. How remarkable they have a FBI’s most wanted terrorists living with them under the same roof. Along with are their own kith and kin involved in same shady business and NOW one gets to read that the entire family is now aghasted , its taken them all out of surprise. Similarly, there was a documentary on the BBC World Service about an unusual number of Pakistanis fleeing a post-9/11 crackdown on illegal immigrants. There were sobbing wives and daughter in veils (men do not face cameras to avoid appearing on record) lamenting the American high handedness. This chaotic exodus has jammed land crossings into areas like Toronto and Montréal. But its probably common sense that these characters had come to the US as tourist and visitors or through fake documents and slipped into American society , living illegally here . So if there is crack down now, should it be matter of surprise to them??? As per habit they don’t leave chance to America bashing and start all over again , forgetting the fact they were earning their livelihoods raising their families in the US in a more respectable manner than they could have done in their own country. They have the cheek to indulge in socking American policies. If US is all bad what were they doing here in the first place. It can be said for a majority of Pakistanis that there sympathies lie with Osamas, Saddams, and Saudis of their world. |
| Posted by: ISHMAIL 2003-03-02 16:56:57 |
| #3 Fred: Knight-Ridder's account is that the Egyptian guy might be Saif al Adel. |
| Posted by: someone 2003-03-02 16:23:27 |
| #2 I've gotta agree with Paul - one of your best ;-) |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-03-02 15:30:36 |
| #1 Fred---your comments cracked me up!. "...he's really not much smarter than broccoli..." is a keeper. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-03-02 15:12:56 |