ISLAMABAD, 18 August 2004 — Pakistan’s Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat has asked Jamaat-e-Islami leaders to explain why several top Al-Qaeda terror suspects were arrested in houses owned by party members, a report said yesterday.
The government is not taking legal action against the party because it was waiting for a clarification from the party leadership, Hayat said. “It is a matter of concern that Jamaat, which is a main faction of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), has neither dissociated itself from its activists having links with Al-Qaeda network nor condemned their activities,” The News daily quoted Hayat as telling reporters.
The MMA alliance rules the northwest province bordering Afghanistan and opposes the military-backed Pakistan Muslim League central government. “The government as well as the people of Pakistan would certainly like JI to publicly denounce the Al-Qaeda network and explain why Al-Qaeda leaders were arrested from houses owned by JI leaders,” Hayat was quoted as saying.
He asked the party leaders to explain whether the arrests were a “coincidence” or if housing the suspects was a “deliberate act.” He said JI woman activist Maluka Khatoon was arrested on Oct. 4, 2002 and “confessed having relations with” key Al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammad.
Mohammad was sheltered in a house owned by Ahmad Abdul Qadoos in the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi when he was arrested on March 1, 2003. Hayat said Qadoos’s wife is a high profile JI activist.
He said two doctor brothers arrested in the eastern city of Lahore on Sept. 18, 2002 for providing sanctuary to Al-Qaeda leader Yasir Al-Jazeeri, were both members of JI.
