Faisal Shahzad is not Pakistani: FM

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Faisal Shahzad is not Pakistani: FM - GEO.tv

Faisal Shahzad is not Pakistani: FM

Updated at: 2232 PST, Sunday, May 09, 2010

KARACHI: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Sunday said Faisal Shahzad, the man involved in failed attack at Times Squre, is not a Pakistani but a naturalised American citizen.

In an interview when asked to comment on reports of recovery of two Pakistani passports from Faisal Shahzad, Qureshi said: “I will have to check. I am not aware of that but I am aware that he is a naturalised American citizen, and the Government of Pakistan will cooperate with the United States and help them in whatever way we can.”

He said Pakistan is serious in its probe into the Mumbai attacks. Hafiz Saeed was arrested but was later set free by the court in the absence of sufficient evidence.

“Pakistan wants cordial relations with India and we will not let any terrorist outfit sabotage the process of dialogue between the two countries,” the FM said.

He said he would invite Indian external minister to visit Pakistan for talks. Back channel diplomacy is of no use without front channel diplomacy, he added.

[vinod2070]

Do all the NRPs on this forum not consider themselves Pakistanis?

[ajtr]

Originally Posted by vinod2070

Do all the NRPs on this forum not consider themselves Pakistanis?

NRP consider them as indians.So dont malign pakistan's name by relating some NRP neeutralized citizen terrorist with pakistan.

[Lady Macbeth]

Originally Posted by vinod2070

Do all the NRPs on this forum not consider themselves Pakistanis?

What kind of a silly question is that?.....erm ok an equally silly question for you then "Do all the NRIs (if any) on this forum not consider themselves Indians?".......

[vinod2070]

Originally Posted by Lady Macbeth

What kind of a silly question is that?.....erm ok an equally silly question for you then "Do all the NRIs (if any) on this forum not consider themselves Indians?".......

:P

Its your FM claiming that Shahzad was not a Pakistani.

He was given US citizenship barely months ago!

[EmO GiRl]

Originally Posted by vinod2070

:P

Its your FM claiming that Shahzad was not a Pakistani.

He was given US citizenship barely months ago!

he was a 'lone Wolf' & Pakistan has denied any links b/w him & taliban, he just went bonkers

[Black Blood]

It does not matter who Faisal shahzad is and who is he not , the damage is done to Pakistan already which we cant reverse can we?

I believe that Faisal was used to serve a purpose to get some political levrage over already spineless & coward GOP to Start ops in N.W.

Twists and turns , rolls and loops would be seen in coming days as GOP has said that NW operation decision would be made in GHQ not in the PM house.

Regards:

[vinod2070]

Originally Posted by EmO GiRl

he was a 'lone Wolf' & Pakistan has denied any links b/w him & taliban, he just went bonkers

May be. Here the issue is whether he is a Pakistani or not.

Technicalities aside, he didn't do it because he had just been given USA nationality. He did it because of his previous nationality (that he gave up) and the resentments built up due to that nationality and identity.

[ajtr]

Smokers’ Corner: The sinking middle-ground

The most convenient understanding of the phenomenon of Pakistani extremists that one hears being echoed from TV studios suggests that young Pakistanis turning into religious fanatics has something to do with illiteracy and unemployment. Though not entirely incorrect, this notion however is a complacent explanation.

It fails to explain the emergence of young religious extremists such as Omar Shaikh (involved in the murder of American journalist, Daniel Pearl); Shahzad Tanveer and Hasib Hussain (7/7 UK bombers); and recently, Faisal Shahzad (the failed Times Square bomber). Each one of these young men came from educated middle-class families.

Saying they were products of the western societies that they were raised in or thrown into is a weak retort. This attitude simply refuses to seriously address the issue of educated young Pakistanis falling for an extremely myopic and nihilistic brand of the faith — something that was once explained as a vocation only of the illiterate and the financially desperate. There has been an alarming rise in the number of young, educated middle-class Pakistanis (here and abroad), embracing the most reactionary and anarchic strains of the faith, believing it to be a justified and logical portrayal of ‘true’ Islam.

The state and the government of Pakistan will have to thoroughly investigate and rectify this alarming trend. While actors like the 7/7 bombers and Faisal Shahzad are an obvious embarrassment to Pakistan and to the Pakistani communities in the West, so are the growing number of rabid, tech-savvy young people floating around various interactive websites to mouth the most obnoxious ideas about Islam and politics. There are websites out there glorifying utter mad men and the most twisted conspiracy theories, and many of these are owned, run and frequented by Pakistanis who work and are comfortably settled in western countries.

For example, last year columnist Fasi Zaka was being pestered by a young man (through email) who accused him of being an American agent. When Zaka discovered that this person (a Pakistani) lived in the United States, he wrote back, sarcastically offering him help by reporting his dislike of American policies to the notorious US Homeland Security agency. As expected, the emails came to a dead stop. The cyber jihadi had chickened out.

Then there is a gentleman who runs a pro-Zaid Hamid website. He lives and works in the US, but has the audacity to call a number of journalists (including me), ‘Zionist/CIA agents.’ He also frequently litters his site with ridiculous conspiracy theories involving the US. He has a fetish for fast cars as well.

Just as the sudden rise of certain crackpots (via TV) in Pakistan was keenly followed and supported by a chunk of young, urban Pakistanis, various cranks are happily catering to the already confused religious and ideological bearings of Muslim Pakistanis living abroad. Much has been written about people like Zaid Hamid, Aamir Liaquat and Zakir Naik — men who cleverly represent (and glorify) the increasingly chauvinistic mindset of the current generation of young, urban Pakistanis. The situation is equally distressing in the West.

A recent book on Farhat Hashmi’s organisation, Al-Huda, (written by a Pakistani woman), accuses her of spreading hatred against Christians, Hindus and Jews among Pakistani women living in Canada. Recently, in the wake of the Faisal Shahzad episode in New York, the Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC), a group of liberal Muslims living in Canada, accused American Islamic organisations of refusing to distance themselves from the doctrine of armed jihad, as did the Deobandi ulema’s conference back home only recently.

The MCC goes on to state that many young Pakistanis living in the United States and Canada regard Pakistan as a safe haven for their preparation and training for waging wars against the West. Organisations like the MCC have also come down hard on outfits such as Al-Huda, ridiculing their claim that they are on a mission to convert westerners to Islam.

A few weeks ago I got an email from a reader about a Pakistani living in the United States who (on Facebook) accused me of being a ‘Zionist-backed agent of secularism’. When someone asked the gentleman that, if he hated the US so much why was he living there, he conveniently (and without any hint of irony) claimed that his mission was to convert as many Christians and Jews in the US as possible. Imagine what might have happened to a European or an American Christian in Pakistan if his/her ‘mission’ was to convert Muslims to Christianity.

The best was when a friend of mine told me about another such agitated Pakistani’s Facebook page. According to my friend, the following were the Facebook groups the restless young man was a member of: “Proud to be Muslim”; “I Hate Zardari;” “Free Dr Afia”; “Zaid Hamid”; and, hold your breath, “Big Boobs!”

Saying that such young people are wilfully delusional and dangerously hypocritical would be an understatement.

[Neo]

Originally Posted by Black Blood

It does not matter who Faisal shahzad is and who is he not , the damage is done to Pakistan already which we cant reverse can we?

I believe that Faisal was used to serve a purpose to get some political levrage over already spineless & coward GOP to Start ops in N.W.

Twists and turns , rolls and loops would be seen in coming days as GOP has said that NW operation decision would be made in GHQ not in the PM house.

Regards:

Agree with BB here, what's done is done and I'm glad he got caught and our government is cooperating with US authorities to tacle his network.
But I've said it before and I'll it again that radicalisation of ex-pats is not our concern and we will not take responsibility for their failures.