Will Haqqani again bail out FBI?

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2010-10-28T17:26:41+05:00 Shireeen M Mazari
Following the framing of Adnan Mirza by the FBI and subsequent arrest of his cousin Shiraz Qazi in an equally framed set-up where he was merely photographed with an unlicensed hunting gun (which was given to him by the FBI undercover agent for the photograph only), more developments in the case include the continuing refusal by the US Embassy in Pakistan to give Adnan Mirzas mother a visa to visit her son. She saw him for the last time in 2001 when left to study in US. And now hes been sentenced for 15 years. Former US ambassador Anne W. Patterson refused to grant the mother a visa on three different occasions, despite her pleas on humanitarian grounds. US diplomats said the mother of Adnan could create trouble for them in the media if she reached Houston to be with her son. His mother is planning to approach the Foreign Minister and Chairman Senate Foreign Relations Committee to request their intervention with the US Embassy in Islamabad to issue her a visa to visit her son. Unfortunately, given the subservience of our FM to US diktat, there is little hope to be expected from that quarter. But the story of FBI harassment of this particular Pakistani family does not end with only Adnan Mirzas case. His cousin Shiraz Qazi was arrested later because he was photographed by the fake Muslim undercover FBI agents carrying an unlicensed hunting gun during a hiking trip. The intent of the FBI was to create a panic by announcing the arrest of 'Houston Taliban. Unfortunately for them, they had to resist this temptation in public, because the only evidence they could come up with was a twenty-something Pakistani student and his younger cousin photographed only with unlicensed hunting guns, by their two undercover FBI fake Muslims. Only the four of them were on the hiking trip outside Houston, hardly a poster picture for 'Houston Taliban. Yet, despite this cooked up evidence, Shiraz Qazi was sentenced to 10 months in jail five years ago. When he was released, US Immigration arrested him citing no reasons or court order - so much for due process of law in the US He stayed behind bars for two-and-a-half years before being released. Now they have arrested him again and want to deport him. His wife and child are US citizens but he is not. His parents, senior citizens, and his brothers and their families all live in Houston with no family back in Pakistan. So he has no ties to Pakistan for purposes of deportation. Ambassador Haqqani has been approached by US Immigration with a request to issue Shiraz Qazi travel documents for deportation. It is in Haqqanis hands to decide whether to unfairly facilitate the FBI in an even greater travesty of justice than when Pakistani diplomats in the US sought to persuade Adnan Mirza to wrongfully confess to his crime and get a reduced sentence Interestingly, Shiraz filed a request in the court to restrain Immigration from sending him to Pakistan on the grounds that his terrorism-related case might land him in trouble with Pakistani authorities. Ironically, his asylum request was declined with the reason that the court case proved he has no terror ties, which negates the entire case under which he was jailed for more than three years and his cousin Adnan Mirza has been sentenced for 15 years.
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