Irshad Salim

NEW YORK: Pakistani-American Mohammad Shafiq Rahman has been released from federal custody in Boston, 15 week after he was arrested.

Rahman was picked up in May on an immigration violation while police were investigating the failed Times Square car bombing.

Federal official Ross Feinstein of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement told media that Rahman was released on Thursday after his family posted $10,000 bail on his behalf. He will return to his home in Maine while he fights deportation, a report said.

Rahman, a computer programmer from South Portland, and two cousins from Massachusetts, Pir Khan and Aftab Ali Khan, were arrested on immigration violations on May 13 as investigators probed the May 1 car bomb attempt in Manhattan.

Pir Khan was freed on bail last month while Aftab Khan remains held at a New York City jail.

Federal authorities said they were investigating whether the men, knowingly or unknowingly, gave money to Faisal Shahzad, who was convicted of the failed bombing.

Rahman came to the United States in 1999 with a specialty occupation visa that allowed him to work as a computer programmer, then stayed after it expired in 2004. He married a US citizen in March and is petitioning to remain in the country.

Nida Khan
News correspondent
WRKS 98.7 Kiss FM NY

‘Drones Kill 12 Children Playing Outside’
‘A Family Buries 15′
‘Americans Target the Wrong House Again’

Virtually every morning on the streets of Karachi, Pakistan, these sorts of headlines gleamed across the front pages of major papers, led the evening news broadcasts and drove conversations around dinner tables in both elite and impoverished households alike. With average Pakistanis losing their lives at the hands of terrorist elements within their country at an alarming rate, concern was visibly rampant even as folks went about their daily functions. It was at the top of this year that I found myself here, in of one of the most complicated — yet integral — countries in the world. Almost instantaneously, I was engaged in a routine process of interfacing with countless locals with the hopes of garnering the sentiments of average citizens when it comes to terrorism, the United States and their own self-autonomy.

As an American of Pakistani descent, I was met with enthusiasm, sometimes with intrigue and most often with suspicion. Walking down the streets of the country’s largest metropolis, you could hear the latest Lady Gaga song blasting through someone’s radio, or see your favorite Hollywood blockbuster bootlegged on the sidewalks. But traveling to such a volatile region in a post-9/11 world, you could also easily feel a sense of growing concern. At times hesitant to congregate in crowded areas over fear of random violence, these Pakistanis were simultaneously openly critical — yet divided — on their views of Americans.

Following the recent release of the now infamous 92,000 classified U.S. army documents via Wikileaks, the most blaring headline here at home quickly read something like this: ‘Pakistan’s spy agency meets with insurgents and in some cases plans attacks against Americans’. At first glance, this is unquestionably a troubling, inflammatory notion; how could Pakistan’s own secret service, the ISI, engage in covert acts that run counter to our mission, and in effect, stand in direct opposition to their own open political stance? But upon further and deeper assessment, we can see how Pakistan’s seemingly contradictory behavior is not too far off base from our own apparent paradoxical actions.

We in the United States are currently engaged in two active wars — Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition to troops on the ground and in the air, our military runs a predator drone program (unmanned aerial vehicles) in both countries. At the same time, in public discourse and policy we have acknowledged nothing but support for the nation of Pakistan as it works alongside our own military to root out terrorism in Afghanistan and within its own bordering communities. As we have repeatedly stated, Pakistan is our biggest ally against extremists and many within Pakistan argue that they have sacrificed the most in terms of dead soldiers and exhausted manpower.

But we are not — and never have been — at war with Pakistan. So why is it that our own intelligence agency and military engages in secret, covert attacks that have led to the deaths of over 700 civilians in 2009 alone? If our own undisclosed actions conflict with our public diplomacy, can we really be enraged when Pakistanis are alleged to do the same?

The BBC recently released its findings of our predator drone program in Pakistan, which is oftentimes outsourced to private contractors like XE (formerly Blackwater). The results were startling to say the least. Since President Obama has been in office, the drone attacks have increased threefold. The predator aircraft take off in hidden bases within Pakistan every day, sometimes several times a day. And according to local Pakistani media, like the Dawn newspaper, for each terrorist killed by U.S. drones, some 140 innocent Pakistanis also lose their lives.

I was in Pakistan when ethnic warfare, another byproduct of the combat in neighboring Afghanistan, erupted regularly on the streets. As local merchants and families alike argued over whether or not an American clandestine program was assisting or further exacerbating internal strife, their undeniable frustration and trepidation was clearly evident.

On the one hand, many welcomed a united front to defeat terrorism that continuously plagued their streets on an every day basis. But consistently reading reports of ‘collateral damage’ and innocent men, women and children losing their lives at the hands of a secret program, their views on the U.S. were visibly torn — much like ours now are on Pakistan.

(The views of the author and commentors do not reflect those of PKonweb. PKonweb reserves the right to remove or edit comments that are posted.)

HYDERABAD: A Pakistani-American woman who had been kept in illegal confinement by her husband since November 2009 was freed Friday in Hyderabad.

US citizen Sadia was recently freed from the illegal custody of her husband. She has been allowed by court to leave with her uncle.

The permission was granted by the Sindh High Court’s Hyderabad registry Branch after Sadia revealed that she had been kept in illegal confinement for the last eleven years.

Sadia’s husband Shahrukh was also present in court. He sought permission to meet his wife but she refused to meet him.

Sadia was recovered from her husband’s apartment on Thursday night. Police raided the apartment on the directives of the court.

Sadia’s uncle had filed a petition in court, demanding her recovery.

DALLAS: A Pakistani-American mother is accused of strangling her two young children in a Dallas suburb in Texas.

Saiqa Akhter told a 911 operator she killed her two kids because they were autistic and she wanted “normal kids,” according to a tape released Wednesday.

Irving police released the recording after Saiqa was charged with one count of capital murder in the strangling of her 5-year-old son, Zain Akhter, at the family’s apartment Monday night. Police spokesman David Tull said another capital murder charge is pending in the slaying of her 2-year-old daughter, Faryaal Akhter, who died Tuesday night.

Police say the mother called 911 emergency services after attacking the children. In the recording, the woman identifies herself as Saiqa Akhter and repeatedly tells the operator she killed her two children, describing how she first tried to poison them, then later strangled them with some type of wire. At one point during the recording, the woman hangs up and the dispatcher calls her back.

“I killed them. I killed both of them,” she told the operator. Later, she explained that both children were lying motionless on the bed in the master bedroom.

“They are not doing anything. They are just blue and they are not taking any breaths and … their heart is not beating,” she said.

She told the operator she initially tried to poison the children with bathroom cleaner but they refused to drink it. When that didn’t work, “I used a wire on their necks,” she said.

When the operator asked the woman why she attacked her children, she said, “They’re both not normal, not normal. They’re autistic. Both are autistic.” Pressed further, she said, “I don’t want my children to be like that. … I want normal kids.”

Later, the dispatcher asked the woman what she was feeling. “Nothing,” she responded.

At one point, water can be heard running in the background and the dispatcher asks what the woman is doing. She told the operator she was trying to wash the smell of cleaner off of her hands. The dispatcher then told the woman to go sit on a couch in the living room and wait for police.

At the end of the recording, police can be heard arriving at the home.

Akhter has requested a court-appointed attorney but one hasn’t been assigned to her case yet, an Irving jail official said Wednesday. If convicted of capital murder, Akhter could face the death penalty, though prosecutors have not said if they will seek that punishment. Otherwise, she could face life in prison without parole.

Saiqa Akhter’s uncle, Wasimul Haque, told The Dallas Morning News that his niece had been depressed since moving into a new apartment in Irving. Haque said Zain had autism and a severe speech impediment but had been improving and was in speech therapy.

The children’s father, Rashid Akhter, emigrated from Pakistan in the late 1990s, the newspaper reported. He married Saiqa, who also is from Pakistan, several years later, it said.

What is Autism? What Causes Autism?

Autism is known as a complex developmental disability. Experts believe that Autism presents itself during the first three years of a person’s life. The condition is the result of a neurological disorder that has an effect on normal brain function, affecting development of the person’s communication and social interaction skills.

People with autism have issues with non-verbal communication, a wide range of social interactions, and activities that include an element of play and/or banter.

Muhammad Hammad Chaudhry, son of prominent Pakistani-American community leader Dr. Nisar Chaudhry, was killed in a tragic mishap Sunday after a large vehicle collided with his motorbike in Columbia, Maryland, his family said.

Chaudhry was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center and pronounced dead.

The driver of the 2002 Chevrolet Avalanch, 45-year-old Marganta Gonzalez Cruz, was uninjured.

Authorities say the crash occurred as Chaudhry was traveling east on Tamar Drive and Cruz was turning left from the westbound lane.

Police were investigating the accident Monday.

The sudden death of 25-year-old Hammad plunged the family in deep grief and shock, and many members of the community and American friends of Dr. Nisar Chaudhry, a known political and international relations analyst, expressed their sorrow over the sudden loss and sympathized with the family.

Journalist Syed Adeeb, Journalist Akmal Aleemi, Journalist Faisal Qazi, Journalist Ali Imran, Journalist Kausar Javaid, PAC President Dr. Muhammad Akram, PAC Director Dr. Khawaja M. Ashraf, PAC Director Dr. Ashraf M. Abbasi, PALC Director Mossadaq Chughtai, Pakistan Links President Hamid Malik, PABA Chairman M. Siddique Sheikh and many other Pakistani-American community leaders based in the United States of America (USA) have expressed their deep sorrow and heartfelt grief over the death of Muhammad Hammad Chaudhry, son of Dr. Nisar A. Chaudhry, in the tragic road accident.