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| Wajahat grilled at London airport |
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Friday, January 25, 2008
By Rauf Klasra & Umar Cheema
LONDON: The British police arrested and grilled Ch Wajahat Hussain and a son of Ch Shujaat Hussain, along with their four friends, at the Gatwick Airport on January 22 for 24 hours under the anti-terrorism laws of the land on a secret “tip-off” from the Spanish police.
The Spanish police suspected them to be accomplices of the 11 alleged Pakistani terrorists, who were arrested in Barcelona last weekend. The British Foreign Office spokeswoman Natasha Khan confirmed the arrests, saying, “Six men were detained at the airport on 22 January and were released on 23 January. We sincerely regret any inconvenience, any distress caused. They are free to return to the UK and their visas have not been affected.”
The British High Commissioner to Pakistan is said to have also contacted Ch Shujaat Hussain and expressed regrets over the grilling of his brother, son and four others who were denied entry into London despite valid visas after their dramatic arrests at the airport.
Even after full investigations from the family members of the former prime minister of Pakistan Ch Shujaat Hussain, the British investigators did not feel fully satisfied with their replies. Finally, after full grilling of these six men, these investigators decided not to allow any of them to enter London city and, subsequently, deported them to Pakistan by a PIA flight on Wednesday. Diplomatic sources said the Pakistan High Commission in London, on receiving the news of this shocking incident, immediately sent a demarche to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). This diplomatic contact with the FCO is said to have led to the immediate issuance of a statement by the British government in which its spokesperson expressed regrets over the incident.
Meanwhile, some top-level sources have confirmed that Wajahat Hussain, who runs the “Wajahat Force” in Gujrat, along with five others, was picked up from inside the plane which had brought all of them from Barcelona, Spain.
These sources said Wajahat and others were in Barcelona when the Spanish police in a major anti-terrorism crackdown arrested 11 Pakistanis on charges of planning suicide bombings in the city ahead of elections.
The Spanish authorities thought these Pakistanis, led by Wajahat Hussain, were quietly flying out of Spain to avoid arrest after some of their countrymen were picked up by the local police on charges of planning suicide bombings in Barcelona.
According to information available with ‘The News’, as the plane carrying Wajahat Hussain and others (including Ch Shujaat’s son) landed at the second biggest airport of Britain, a large contingent of police was already waiting to arrest them. They were not allowed to proceed towards the immigration counter.
They all were arrested under Britain’s anti-terrorism laws, which give sweeping powers to the police to make arrests and detain any one on suspicion of terrorism.A diplomatic source said Wajahat and his friends (Sajid Shah, Sajjad Duga, Malik Arshad and Ch. Saadat Nawaz) were detained at Gatwick Airport on a ‘tip off’ that six terrorists had reached there from Barcelona.
Once Ch Wajhat Hussain and others were arrested, they were not allowed to make any telephonic contact, either in Pakistan or London. They were investigated for 24 hours. But after 24 hours of investigations, the British investigators gave clearance to the immigration officers to deport them back to Pakistan. But, quite interestingly, Wajahat Hussain and others were sent to Pakistan by a PIA flight after clearance from the authorities but were denied entry into London city despite having valid visas.
Meanwhile, in Islamabad a senior diplomat of the British High Commission on Thursday held a meeting with PML-Q President Ch. Shujaat Hussain and apologised for the detention of his brother Wajahat, together with his five friends, on false suspicion at Gatwick Airport, a family source said.
A press statement issued by the British High Commission has regretted, what it said, was the inconvenience to Wajahat and his friends. However, the Foreign Office spokesperson, Muhammad Sadiq, said that the issue would be formally taken up with the British authorities.
A party source said that the British High Commission’s political counselor held a detailed meeting with Ch. Shujaat Hussain and expressed regret over the inconvenience caused to his brother and others due to false information received by the airport authorities.
Shujaat showed his displeasure over the incident saying it had brought bad name to his family. A statement issued by the British High Commission said: “Six men were detained at Gatwick Airport on 22nd of January and released on 23rd of January. We sincerely regret any inconvenience and distress that was caused. Staffs at British High Commission have expressed their regret in person. They were not deported, they are free to return and their UK visas have not been affected.”
Foreign Office spokesperson, Muhammad Sadiq, said it was taking up the issue with the British authorities. “It is a very regrettable incident and it should not have happened. We are taking it up with the British authorities,” he said.
Wajahat had left Pakistan on January 18 for the Netherlands to become a ‘helping hand’ for Musharraf during his nine-day visit of Europe, by arranging receptions to give an impression that the president was very popular among the overseas Pakistanis. He first held a rally in Brussels, where Musharraf went on the first leg of his unofficial tour, and then in Paris. He was returning as per schedule.
According to his travel document, he first went to Dubai from where he took the flight to the Netherlands. His colleagues said they went by road to Brussels and then to Paris and were detained on way back at London’s Gatwick Airport.
A person traveling with Wajahat told ‘The News’ that they went from Paris to Barcelona for shopping and were arrested at the Gatwick Airport where they landed for a connecting flight to Pakistan. He said Wajahat told the British police repeatedly that he wanted to speak to Pakistan’s High Commission in the UK but they turned down his request.
The Pakistan Muslim League president conveyed to the British authorities that he was seriously considering legal action for wrongful detention of his family members and other Pakistani passengers accompanying them. He is consulting his lawyers in Pakistan and the UK. He considers this to be a gross violation of human rights and a reflection of Islamophobia presently gripping the West.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
