JEDDAH, 30 November — Meet the man who has staked a claim to be the tallest person in the world. "I’ve sent my claim to the Guinness Book of World Records and am awaiting their acknowledgment," boasts Azad Khan Masood, a 25-year old Pakistani, who hails from Saraoogha in the North West Frontier Province’s Dera Ismail Khan district.
He is 7’ 8" tall and weighs 330 pounds (150 kg). Attired in the distinctive Pakistani shalwar-kameez dress made out of 16 meters of cloth, he sports the world’s biggest pair of shoes — size 22. "The clothes I wear are those of Alam Channa, previously the world’s tallest person," Masood said during a visit to Arab News yesterday.
Channa, also a Pakistani, was mentioned as the tallest man in the world in the Guinness Book. Channa, who worked in PIA, underwent treatment for a kidney ailment at the New Jeddah Clinic Hospital before he died nearly three years ago in Pakistan. Masood and his entourage, which also includes tallest and shortest persons, arrived here on Wednesday.
"This is my first visit to the holy land," he remarked after performing Umrah and visiting the governorates of Tabuk, Madinah and Jeddah. "Peace is my mission and that’s what I advocate wherever I go," he said.
Son of Ameer Muhammad Khan, Masood said he comes from a poor family has no education.
"My parents, my four sisters and five brothers are of normal height. I had normal growth during my childhood, but from the age of 10 I started growing tall. My doctor tells me that I’ll keep growing taller until the age of 28," said Masood, who briefly worked as a security guard with a travel agency in Peshawar. He has since been undertaking tours around the globe to promote peace.
"We’re here after visiting Iran, Syria and Jordan. After the Eid Al Fitr (at the end of Ramadan), we’ll continue our tour through Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Spain, Germany, Italy and Turkey. Thereafter, we’ll visit Shengen states, the UK, the US and Canada," group manager Qamaruddin Ansari said.
The group includes Ghulam Shabbir, another claimant for the world’s tallest person position, Zinab Bibi, the "tallest woman" in the world, Ali Zaman and Nada A. Abu-Hajar, the "shortest person" and "shortest woman" respectively.
