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The nine American nationals were detained by the Islamabad police for allegedly taking photographs and making video footage of the Benazir Bhutto International Airport.
The six members of FEW Collective, a US officer, Pakistani staff from the embassy and Pakistani musicians were detained for around an hour on a military base in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, a spokesman told AFP.
The police claim that they approached the six US nationals when they witnessed them taking photographs of the airport while sitting in three vehicles. They subsequently deleted the pictures and footage from their cameras when the police interrogated them.
Police sources disclosed that the group did not divulge any information, and that the Americans are adamant that the US embassy should speak on their behalf.
The Chicago-based group is in Pakistan at the invitation of the US embassy and performed a concert Tuesday as part of a cultural exchange programme.
"While one of the performers may have taken a photograph while travelling in an embassy vehicle on a public road, no sensitive installations were visible from the vehicle," said the US embassy.
"The performer was not aware of restrictions placed on photography in or near the cantonment, and had no intention of taking photographs of sensitive Pakistani government or military installations," it added.
A report published earlier in The Express Tribune stated that foreign citizens, including diplomats, have been visiting military installations and other prohibited areas without obtaining permission from the government.
According to sources inside the interior ministry, reports issued by intelligence agencies indicate that diplomats, foreign employees of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and other foreign nationals have been visiting – and photographing – areas that non-Pakistani citizens are not permitted to enter.
COMMENTS (71)
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Come on Pakistan.... This is not the 19th century. Have you ever seen the resolution of Google earth? Why would someone take limited view pictures of sensitive installations with cameras when they can measure and analyze human shadows from space to discover Osama?
Too soft. Imagine a Pakistani diplomat taking pictures of JFK. He would end up in Guantanamo
Anyone linked to the US embassy in Islamabad cannot be trusted. Our security officials should be commended for taking timely action. For those ignorant of their own country: Pakistan is in a state of war. We've lost 35,000 Pakistanis in a few years because of someone else's failed war next door. Cantonements across the nation are no-go areas where taking pictures or making videos without permission are prohibited.
There are only two possibilities: Either the 'artists' were actually spies, or they were really innocent artists taking pictures at a public place like the airport. In the first case, if they were really spies, then to let them go after one hour investigation is shameful. They should have been outed and exposed in front of the world media. However, if they were artists and were merely harassed because they were taking pictures unknowingly at the public areas of the airport and no other military/sensitive installation, then an incident like this will further add to our image of a paranoid and increasingly isolationist nation (a la Iran, North Korea, Cuba etc). We have already lost international sports thanks to our pandering to the extremists in search of strategic depth, and now we are on the fast track to lose artistic and cultural links with the world as well due to the paranoia like this. The security and intelligence agencies of the country need to do a better job at protecting the citizenry from the real threat to their lives and future - the extremists within - rather than antagonizing the whole nation against 'foreigners'.
What privacy of secret installations?? Go to google earth and you can find everything for free. What about the paid satellite images and further what about the satellite images obtained for spying purposes? US does not have to rely on hand held cameras for spying.
There are three counties, Pakistan ,India and north Korea where you cannot take photos at airport or Bridges etc.
American drones attach North waziristan with a pinpoint accuracy, I wonder who send them photos every day.?
We always forget taking photos is thing of past. May be some terrorist will need photos to plan a attach.
Most of the airports in the world full plan of airport is available on information counter.
Yup, after CIA contractor Raymond Davis debacle, US government is now hiring hip hop artists to spy on Pakistanis. It is a package deal for entertainment and espionage.
@Sameer Qadir: I have some photographs of me that I took at Chicago Airport, Los Angeles Airport, Heathrow London etc. Nobody gives a damn, You are wrong, only people like you and Syed (who form a majority in Pakistan) are so insecure that taking a photograph becomes a crime. Do you people seriously think that you airports are so important? I could walk around Islamabad airport and sketch on the wall later that day! that's how big your airport is!
@Sameer Qadir: "I wonder how I would be treated if I arrived as a Pakistani at JFK and started taking pictures of that airport"
They would ignore you if you were taking pictures - not inside the structure but outside which anyone can easily get via google earth.
Abdur Rahman Baba says “Though the wealthy, drink water from a golden cup, I prefer this clay bowl of mine” Khushal khan khatak says “Don’t eat that sweat which is acquired by humble request. Dry bread is for better than it.” “A deceptive heart is destructive specially if it’s heart of a leader, such leader defames himself and destroys the nation”. Regretably we observe it because our Rulers are begging and made the Nation a beggar.
As if obtaining such photos through any other sources than through the under cover Americans was impossible. Very efficient and smart move by a very smart police !
@Dr.Tanwir Ahmad: Read sameer Qadir Comments carefully, I have recommened it. If you don't understand, why not visit US and you will realize how Pakistanies are treated at the airport/borders and etc.
WHAT PICTURES OF THE AIRPORT???? SHOCKING!!! i have never heard of tourists taking pictures at the airport... and with cameras!!!! does sony know that tourists take pictures?
my my xenophobia and hypocrisy reigns supreme in our country... "how dare foreigners come to our country!!!.. they must be evil... check them for a espionage!!!! oh by the way did you hear that my cousin got randomly searched in the US? those american racists!!!" hahahah....pathetic
You can never guess which building will turn out to be 'sensitive location' in Pakistan. Remember Abottabad?
I wonder how I would be treated if I arrived as a Pakistani at JFK and started taking pictures of that airport.I believe I would be six feet under in an unmarked box in an unknown area.
@Salman: "A report published earlier in The Express Tribune stated that foreign citizens, including diplomats, have been visiting military installations and other prohibited areas without obtaining permission from the government".
Is the security of military installations so weak that anyone can simply 'visit' without having proper authorization? When you read the report basically they describe anyone visitng 'the garrison cit of Rawalpindi' as bieng in a sensitive place. Seriously people with valid visas to Pakistan would need government permission to go to Pindi? I know Indians are an exceptions because India and Pakistan only give each other visas for specific city - ut I am talking about others).
That report also called Quetta and souther Punjab as sensitiveplaces. Yet the people visited were NGO employees working on flood relief in those areas last year. On the one hand you beg the world for money for flood relief but when people show up on the ground to administer flood relief (so it does not get pocketed by the corrupt government) then you have these media reports implying they are spies?
@Khurram Mansoor: "Why is this even a news. they make you bare naked on the airports and you cannot question or even inform them not take pics of some sites".
They do not make you bare naked on their airports. Of course you can inform them not to take pictures but they were not 'informed', they were arrested. How many Pakistanis have been arrested in these Western countries for simply taking photographs? Especially where there was no signage saying ' Photography not allowed'.Only cause they're black!
@Khan: "Google any airport in the world not just Islamabad airport and you get its pictures but go and take pictures ‘of’ any airport in the world and you will be surely held within minutes " Not in the US.
@MarkH True, because spies have special badges that separate them from diplomats. I am sure they were only well intentioned musicians just like vaccine injecting CIA doctors in Abottabad were humanitarians. I am not casting judgments on who they were, but do you realise your country's agencies covert operations in Pakistan under the guise of humanitarians and other occupation are putting genuine people at risk? And the irony is that these spy games in Afghanistan and Pakistan, havent even helped you win the war - only made things worse.
@Ali:
intelligence collecting is not as easy. it requires massive manpower and resources. plus, theres no mention of the ISI here. this was local police intelligence in all likelihood, or perhaps other civilian institutions like IB.
When I got down at Kashgar airport in 2005 with my camera in hand.I got a photograph of my wife getting down the stairs of the plane of Southern China Airline.One of the crew member of the plane came forward to make a photo of both of us.He made a number of them with my camera. Same happene. d in Colombo.I made a number of photos of threeGorges Dam at YECHANG Nobody bothers.It is a norm.It is Pakistan where it is a crime,intelligence or saboutage and what not. Tanwir
these guys are not spies...
US embassy should address their invitees with security issues in Pakistan to avoid mishaps like this in future.
@Iron hand: US Forces spot Osama but they missed 9/11. looooolz.
Hang em they al contractors ,,, y they takin pics ,,, will they let few Pakistani let do that at JFK
Spies disguised as hip hop artists....how original
@Cautious: Muslim hospitality? That's absurd..This has nothing to do with religion, my friend.
@Ali Hasan, Schazad Such sweet naive comments. Why dont you next time try taking pictures of the crumbling Dulles Airport or the JFK and see whether or not you get arrested. Or better yet before launching sarcastic comments why don't you google the news and see how many people have been arrested in the US for taking pictures of the airport, bridges and dams. Also I know there is something called the Google Map but in any part of the world you will be arrested for taking pictures of public places in a suspicious manner.
Why is this even a news. they make you bare naked on the airports and you cannot question or even inform them not take pics of some sites.
Grow up @Dawn
@Anserali Khan No its not against the law technically. But in any part of the world if a bunch of dudes (esp all nine) are standing and taking pictures of bridges and airports that will come off as extremely suspicious and they will be arrested. Dozens of cases of people being arrested and deported have taken place in US for taking pictures of places like dams and bridges.
They subsequently deleted the pictures and footage from their cameras when the police interrogated them. . And no doubt the American's have satellite pictures of the entire event - it's a pathetic reason to harass people who are here on a goodwill visit.
@ Love They were taking pictures of an AIRPORT an AIRPORT. This is not about tourism. Go to any airport of the world and even a simple act of looking around can land you in trouble. We seriously need to get some more self-respect. Just for tourism we cannot sacrifice our country's safety and well-being.
A big diplomatic effort turned sour at the end. Nothing is going right for US in Pakistan.
@Anserali Khan: but why they have deleted when security personnel approached them
Before we get more ET Burger Brigade trolling on this post.. I know freedom should be respected but so should be the freedom of every Pakistani. Without relating to any third part event i would like to tell about my vacations in London this year, While travelling through the hug ST Pancras International Train station, i was inspired by the Olympic sign, i took out my phone camera & took 3 photographs. While doing so, i was approached by a plain cloth police officer who told me to go with him (merely because i was taking picture and had a Pakistani Flag key chain attached to my bag). He interrogated me for next 45 minutes, asked me why i took pictures of an Olympic sign? went through the phone-book/sms logs and finally released me after i had missed my train. So i guess if we aren't allowed to roam so why should they be ?
@Anserali Khan: Exactly my comments. Our security agencies are so behind the times.
Pakistan cannot call off this Pak-US relation. They need USA. So USA will be nasty to you people. I mean, this is so simple, isn't it ? USA is simply provoking Pakistan to call the relationship off which Pakistan cannot afford to do. So that is how you kind of balance off the edge that Pakistan seeks to drive home by nuclear blackmail ( i.e. the saga of a volatile state with nuclear weapons and missile technology ). The US Juggernaut rammed Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya in kind of a blitzkrieg. But that huge thing has halted at the border of Pakistan. Obviously they are not going to sit back. Instead of thinking " 10 times " to attack they would unleash the CIA and the AID and/or trade carrot. CIA surely wants to beat down Pakistan till it gives in and then remote-control the Foreign Policy of Pakistan. As Pakistan nibbles on the AID/trade this is going to get ugly.
Would a Chinese have met with the same fate? I wonder.
Is this a big deal? I don't see any big deal in it. So what if you take pictures and make video of torn down, dirty crumbling airport site with lots and lots of garbage around it. Wats the big deal...?
So what, this is US based government and they are free to roam around in a country which is their slave. Even they have their our president in ISB...its not even a news now...
I can Google any house in Islamabad. all sensitive place can be Google,Guys wake up we are living in 21st century.
Some of the comments here are downright scary.
@Anserali Khan: Google any airport in the world not just Islamabad airport and you get its pictures but go and take pictures 'of' any airport in the world and you will be surely held within minutes ... Google images are (1) not up to date (2) not focused/zoomed in to specific areas A few months back some Bangladeshi students were going to Lake District in UK a very famous tourist destination and their Sat Nav was playing up .. they ended up on wrong road just to be held by special police for 12 hours and their houses searched in London as they were going on a road which led to a sensitive installation.
"An report?" Haha! And this is what they call an English newspaper!! :p A front page highlighted story with such mistakes...
Interrogate them and put out propper protocols for pete's sake so these guys know what they can and cant do!
Pakistanis need to accept the fact that they are a colony of US, China and Saudi Arabia all at the same time. Sad but true.
Just an innocent question: is taking photograph of Islamabad Airport against the law?
Just google Islamabad airport photos and see the results
Incidents like these were being reported in Iraq just before the Iraq invasion. I can smell something really bad. God Forbid. Peace is all we want.
PPP Zinadbad Musharraf & his enlightened moderation Zindabad Pakista's middle class new found freedom Zindabad. We dont really care what else goes on we just wanna eat , drink & be merry!
they have license to do every thing any where every where becase they know no one can touch them .but time is not very long when they would be treated with iron hand. mosin
Now why would they be filming and photographing the Islamabad Airport??? Perhaps, because they decided to class it as Architectural Masterpiece and wanted to copy its designs!!!!!
And then our govt. wonders how foreigners get all the information... why is ISI not keeping tabs on all foreign personnel?
Foreigners have no reason to be visiting sensitive sites such as military sites unless invited to do so - least of all photographing them, our army and ISI should be more vigilant about these things and should not give foreigners especially Americans such free range.
Pakistanis can spot this but they missed Osama? Lol.
Arrest them and find out what are the reasons behind their actions and if they belong to any security agency in US or if they are a contractor which in most cases they are.
Oh excellent! This poor American lands at Islamabad airport tonight. I'll be sure to keep my camera in check.
We don't want more Raymond Davises roaming our streets. Deport them back to US.