PESHAWAR: Fast bowler Umar Gul was in the news for reasons other than cricket on Tuesday when his house in Peshawar was raided by a team of army commandos and his brother arrested on charges of harbouring a wanted militant.
Gul’s brother, Meraj, was arrested along with two other men on charges of providing shelter to his uncle, Haji Daly, who is believed to be an active member of banned outfit Lashkar-e-Islam.
A local, on the condition of anonymity, told The Express Tribune that a team of commandos raided the house and arrested two paramedics, Younas and Shakil. The two were then moved to an undisclosed location.
An official of the local police station claimed Haji Daly had been injured in the armed forces’ operation in Bara, and had fled to Peshawar and lived with Meraj for several days before leaving the city.
“The injured man was brought to Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) with two local paramedics who changed his bandages,” he claimed, adding that he left the hospital without his true identity being ascertained.
Reports indicate that the two parademics arrested are the employees of a maternity home located adjacent to Gul’s house. The family owns the maternity home.
When contacted, however, family members declined to comment on the matter. A cousin of Umar confirmed that a raid had been carried out and three people had been arrested.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 30th, 2012.
COMMENTS (61)
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@Karzai: As far as news are concern, ask anyone in the world he will tell you that the pakistan is most happening place.
@Karzai: Amir khan is celeb hence you are giving him importance there are many programs beside amir khan on social issues.
@Irfan: Because no photoship expert was present, maybe?......
@Vishnu Dutta: Dude, you guys can play your bookie league. I means who would like to continously watch fixed matches for months?...duh!
Will ET issue an appology for defaming Umar Gull? I am really concerned at the behaviour of Express and Jang group.
@ayesha_khan: Everything on Wikipedia is not the last work use multiple sources
@mr. righty rightist: No one gives a damn about IPL and Indians are far more dirty. Watch Aamir khan,s program he has introduced real Indians out to the masses.
@Kamal: It's called creativity. Pakistan doesn't produce cookie cutter Indian IT people
there goes his chance in playing for IPL in near future. (Or may be in a western country)
cricket militancy
Is the story misleading? If it was Umer Gul's brother's house that was raided and Umer Gul lived in a different house - sure, his name should not be in the story. But it looks like he was also living in the same house that the alleged terrorist was being sheltered.
When Moonis Elahi was in the news, did people not frequently refer to who his father was? Do not recall people bashing ET at that time? Umer Gul is a celebrity. If his house is raided for harbouring an alleged terrorist, it is legitimate news.
Why didn't ET put a grenade in Gul's hand instead if a cricket ball. It is news but certainly not about Gul. Disappointed ET.
Would Express Tribune like to extend an apology for this misleading story? It is third class journalism.
You people are just too funny. How many people have been arrested by the army that are innocent but are just against their (pk army) actions? His uncle could be another example for that. We don't know what the army is doing in the tribal agencies, ask the local people, you will be surprised.
Shame on ET for such a misleading title and wrong coverage. ET always write against Islam and support the western propaganda. Shame on you ET, you are ridiculing our heroes.
@CB Guy "..why was this made news public is beyond me. Not only will this bring a bad name to the country, it will also make the family a target of ridicule. Even if his brother is involved, he should be arrested and taken away but sensationalism of the whole thing is shameful..."
First of all I pray that this article is not true!! However, if it is true, what is your obsession about "bringing bad name to country"? This news deserves to "tarnish" our image, if there is any left! Unless, we start jailing or exterminating these jihadi-sectarian nut jobs we wont have any country left! At least, after that you wont have to worry about image damaging news!
But I hope and pray this news is not true. Lets see what happens!
Highly irresponsible reporting from ET...Gul was not involved,it was some some sort of mis-understanding,the incident took place at the clinic of his brother and now every other local/international newspaper and channel is reporting that it was a misunderstanding on the part of the security forces....By putting Gul's picture on the front page and saying :‘Harbouring a militant’: Commandos raid Umar Gul’s house.... it was his brother's clinic not Gul's house....ET should be ashamed of this story and poor reporting... Gul is our asset,and by putting this headline and image,ET has maligned his image in the whole world... I strongly demand an apology and correction from ET... Get your reporting right or you will soon lose a newspaper subscriber and a reader of your website aswell...
What a shame for Express Tribune when they beat Geo at sensationalism. The truth of the matter is that Gul's brother's clinic (not Gul's home) was raided by intelligence agencies and khasadars (not the police, so not sure why a quote from "an official of the police station" is relevant), they were taken for questioning, no evidence was found, so no arrests were made. Gul's brother even said the authorities apologized for the misunderstanding. Terrible reporting.
it's our dilemma,we are suspicious of everyone who hails from an area where operations are being carried out,guess, why is army raiding a house in a settled area like peshawar,it's police's job,but just to give it a hype,army carried this raid out without realising about the reputation of the family........MAN! It has tarnished his image badly,it's exceptionable.
Umar has nothing to do with it. He is innocent, law abiding citizen and our great asset. In every family, there are some dangerous people. Media should focus on their activities and leave aside innocent people. His name should not have been mentioned in news.
Oh cmon get , get the news correct , his bro's clinic was raided and non was arrested !
‘Harbouring a militant’: Commandos raid Umar Gul’s house
With this title , i was convinced that it is Umar Gul , and reading the story tells a different story/// Shame on you Tribune... For spilling lies on front pages to get cheap viewership.
Even a Pakhtun cricketer will not escape the adventures of the great army of alexender. Why dont the commondoes take action against hafiz saeed who openly support these monsters, why dont they operate in Jhang in Punjab, oh but I forgot Punjab shouldnt be discussed because they are masters and any militancy there is fine unless it doesnt affect Lahore, pindi, faisalabad.
@mr. righty rightist
Perhaps you should re-visit your statement. Owing to Umar Gul's family being suspected militants you've labelled him as one and passed judgement on all Pakistani's being in the IPL?
Odd, because when one member of a family i.e. OBL turned out to be a looney, the United States didn't kick his brother out of the USA where he was pursuing a PhD from Harvard.
If yo have such hard line views, why not look into joining one of these extremist organizations instead of wasting your time sharing your views with intelligent people at ET.
Se the real story ... http://urdu.geo.tv/UrduDetail.aspx?ID=51753
This is same what leading news channels are also saying. Tribune has just made the story look so worse ....
Jang news piece suggest it was some misunderstanding:
http://urdu.geo.tv/UrduDetail.aspx?ID=51753
Whatever may be the fact but as a nation we like to jump the gun even before we are finished with the news itself. How many of you read IPL fixing after its first week of disclosure?
trying to impress the usa
Will these agencies and army ever work to get rid of American spies all around Islamabad?
No countries were visiting Pakistan for playing cricket. Now they will think twice to let Pakistan play in their country either as a host or as a guest. IPL, just forget it.
PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE!!! i see no point in bashing Umar Gul for this ...even if it is true....if his brother allegedly even provided support to one of his uncle (who is an alleged militant)....that doesn't make GUL a militant or a terrorist....
You need to understand how the society in K.P. is fabricated before commenting on any thing. People of K.P. are historical warriors for many historical reasons. Most of them are used to carry weapons for a long long time traditionally....if some of them are betrayed and have gone on the wrong path....you can't blame others........
I know it would be wrong (legally as well as morally) to point a finger towards Gul as it was his brother and not him harbouring the terrorist who unfortunately also happens to be their relative. But again wouldn't it be completely unreasonable to say that Umar Gul had absolutely no idea about what is relatives were upto or even his own brother?
Let the reason prevail.
@mr. righty rightist: No Indians on this website...now shush!
@Kamal: And its just an innovation most of the news (I say its more a propaganda) are mostly of gathered from Western Media..
The whole scenario has been cleared read current news. ET should apologize or correction in news.
Bad reporting by puting Gul's picture ... And making it seem as if he is involved
@PTI till death: like the 'benami' transaction or false statement of IK on his tax returns....:)
First Afridi's brother - Killed in Kashmir as a terrorist. Now Gul,s Brother. This has become insidious and spread very deeply in Pakistan society.
well done ET for this extremely inflammatory headline, and that too not based on the facts. Hope the Gul family takes you to court over this.
@Zeta: I pity you if you dont know this Group. Just go outside of Peshawar and then you will see Lashak e Islam Presence. It is a Huge Group and whenever need arises they helped the Taliban and this group is a Biggest threat to Peshawar as they Operate in the neighbourhood of Peshawar and in future if this group will not be Controlled then Peshawar could fall under their influence and we would see Swat like Situation in Peshawar as well. So do some research and then comment.
.....spot fixing of a different kind........no matter what, our cricket manages to get into the spot-light.
Gul should sue ET.
Next year we might have a Taliban supporter playing "IPL" - Mr Umar Gul. Somebody please stop his VISA
Why are people and injuns blaming gul? What does he have to do with harbouring suspected terrorists?
Umer Gul has nothing to do with it. Read carefully, its his brother who gave shelter to the member of banned outfit and who happens to be their relative. And as far as I know, you cannot be held responsible for what your relatives do.
@Zeta & @ayesha_khan I mean seriously you guys had to google for such people like Mangal Bagh & Lashkare Islam BUT when it comes to politician its Imran Khan or anyother left winger... & Justice Chaudhary is your hero & OFCOURSE drone hamlay bandh honay chahie.....
His visas to civilised countries must be rejected asap
why was this made news public is beyond me. Not only will this bring a bad name to the country, it will also make the family a target of ridicule. Even if his brother is involved, he should be arrested and taken away but sensationalism of the whole thing is shameful.
Hope Umar Gul and his family has no links to such groups! Man I really like this guy :(
Clean bowled!
pathetic and what an irony on Pakistan!!!!! names of organisations we never listened before or only in the bollywood fiction based anti hatred movies.
We only heard of this raid by army commandos because famous person is involved. How many other targeted operations is army doing against suspects that we will never hear about?
@Zeta: IT seems they are involved in extortion in the Khyber agency. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lashkar-e-Islam
Its bad to see relatives of such gr8 bowler involved in terrorist activities, but its good to see that our law enforcement agencies did this operation.
The only one Pakistani cricketer I admired. He seemed clean, decent and very focused.
Guess, I was wrong. Pakistani cricketers can never be gud people.
No Pakistanis in IPL.
Guldozzled ......... No matter what we are ... deep down inside we all support militants ... in one way or the other .. and bring a bad name to this country....
Everyday you wake up in the morning and see Pakistan creates a news which the world has never thought of. No one can beat Pakistan for innovation in news.
Umar Gul and his family are innocent people. It's the conspiracy against Gul family.
never heard Lashkar-e-Islam before? Where were they active?
The people captured in broad day light , will hence forth will be referred to as just "missing"
Hope this news will be a hoax just like other ET news..