LAHORE: This is with reference to a story in your newspaper (November 2, page nine) with the headline “Imran detention played up for political reasons”, datelined Peshawar, written by Iftikhar Firdous.
Your correspondent has attributed a statement to Richard Hoagland of the American Embassy in which he is supposed to have said that the detention of Mr Imran Khan at Toronto Airport was played up for political reasons. This is totally contrary to the facts. After Mr Khan was stopped it became an international story because he is a known figure globally and also the leader of a major political party in Pakistan. Offloading him and questioning him about his stance on drones was scandalous. It also caused serious resentment in Pakistan because as a distinguished citizen of the country, the people felt that he should have been treated with respect. This anger was reflected in the Pakistani media. This action of US authorities appeared even more egregious because Mr Khan’s opposition to the drone attacks, that cause immense suffering to the people besides violating Pakistan’s sovereignty, is well known.
If the US authorities had any problem with it, they should not have issued him a visa. But, offloading him like this and questioning him was uncalled for. Incidentally, Mr Hoagland has not been quoted to give any reason for the offloading of Mr Khan, contrary to what has been stated above.
Shafqat Mahmood
Central Information Secretary
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
Published in The Express Tribune, November 5th, 2012.
