KARACHI, 4 July 2004 — A special anti-terrorism court yesterday remanded to police custody two doctor brothers accused of having links with Al-Qaeda. Dr. Akmal Waheed, a heart specialist, and his brother Dr. Arshad Waheed, an orthopedic surgeon, were arrested Friday for involvement in last month’s attack on a military convoy that killed 11 people.
“They were produced before an anti-terrorism court and the court has remanded them in police custody until July 15 for interrogation,” chief police investigator Fayyaz Leghari said.
He said the doctors were suspected of giving medical treatment to Al-Qaeda militants, including foreigners. “They treated them in their private clinic in Malir and also provide refuge to wanted Al-Qaeda fugitives.”
Leghari said police arrested the doctors after gleaning information from the interrogation of the ringleader of the militant group Jund Allah, which is blamed for the June 10 attack.
Police have arrested nine members of Jund Allah, saying the group had links with Al-Qaeda fighters hiding in the South Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border.
Akmal, who is also the head of the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA), and Arshad were taken from their homes June 17, family members said. “My husband was arrested June 17 and he is innocent,” Akmal’s wife Dr. Fouzia Waheed said.
Police said PIMA did welfare work in Afghanistan under the Taleban regime.
The arrests triggered a strike by doctors at the Cardiovascular Institute yesterday.
