Arrested doctors are 'most reliable' Al Qaida contacts

The two doctors, arrested earlier this month for the failed assassination bid on corps commander Karachi, are the "most trusted and reliable" Al Qaida contacts in this violence prone port city, police investigators said yesterday.

Dr Akmal Waheed and Dr Arshad Waheed, both real brothers, did not just provide shelter to fleeing Al Qaida militants, but also helped them escape the police dragnet, a senior investigator said on the condition of anonymity.

The most prominent Al Qaida member whom they gave shelter and medical treatment was Abu Mussab – a nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 terror strikes in the United States.

"They treated Abu Mussab and helped him to return to Afghanistan through the tribal region of South Waziristan," he added.

"They have confessed to their Al Qaida links," the investigator said. "They have also confessed that they provided medical and residential facilities not just to Afghan militants, but scores of other Al Qaida members," he said.

The police arrested the doctors following last month's failed attack on corps commander, Karachi, in which 11 other people were killed. Police said they got the tip about their activities from the arrested Al Qaida members.

"Some of the arrested Al Qaida men named them as their most trusted and reliable contacts in Pakistan," he added. Both the doctors started their political activities on the platform of Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba - the student-wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, police said.

Even now they worked for the Jamaat-e-Islami's medical wing and were also the members of shadowy terror group Jundullah, they added.

But another investigator said that their involvement in terror activities were not the organisational decision of the Jamaat-e-Islami.

"They were the radical members of the lot who were bitter and angry even with the political strategy of their party leaders."

The Jundullah group leader Attaur Rehman was also a member of Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba. Kashif, the personal assistant of Akmal Waheed, took several men from Karachi for militant training in South Waziristan's town of Wana.

They took the help of Eida Khan, the brother of slain tribal warrior Nek Mohammed, for this purpose, police said.

The two doctors were involved in several other high-profile terror assaults in Karachi in recent months, he said.