News
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Ex-army major held in NY plot investigation freed
* Intelligence official says Adnan Ahmad was let go on Friday on orders from higher-ups
* Ahmad says release is proof his capture was a misunderstandingISLAMABAD: A retired army major said on Saturday he had been cleared of any wrongdoing after Pakistani intelligence released him from custody in connection with the attempted car bombing in New York’s Times Square.
Adnan Ahmad and his brother were among at least 11 people that Pakistan has rounded up since the failed attack May 1. Two other suspects face allegations of involvement in the plot, but no one in Pakistan has been charged. Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Maj Gen Athar Abbas confirmed for the first time on Saturday that Ahmad had been dismissed from the military because he had ties to banned organisations, but he would not elaborate.
The main suspect in the car bomb case, Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad, is being held by US authorities.
Release: Ahmad was let go on Friday upon orders from higher-ups, an intelligence official confirmed on condition of anonymity. He would not give any details about the man’s detention or what information it yielded.
Ahmad went missing on May 10, and his brother, computer engineer Qamar Ahmad, disappeared a couple of days later.
Reached at a Rawalpindi residence via telephone on Saturday, Ahmad told AP that he was fine and expected his brother to be released shortly.
Misunderstanding: “It was confusion. I am now back with my family,” the former major said. “It is proof that it was just a misunderstanding. They have cleared me.” He declined to discuss anything about his detention or his ties to Shahzad. Intelligence officials have said he was linked to people who knew Shahzad.
Ahmad also would not discuss the circumstances surrounding his departure from the army or exactly when it happened.
Intelligence officials have said he bought his way out in the last two months because of a “disagreement” with the army’s policies. But Maj Gen Athar Abbas said Ahmad was forced out.
“He was dismissed from service for his links with proscribed organisations,” Abbas said.
US officials have accused Shahzad of working with the Pakistani Taliban to organise the car bomb, a rudimentary device that failed to detonate. Shahzad was arrested two days after the failed attack as he tried to fly out of the US on a Dubai-bound plane. The continued, secretive detention of suspects in Pakistan has worried their families as well as human rights officials. ap
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk