As Pakistan ended its campaign in the London Olympics on Thursday, the contingent’s security has been intensified to keep members away from ‘conspiracies’ through possible sting operations by British newspapers.
Mohammad Abid Qadri, the serving DIG Operations Punjab, in charge of security related issues with the delegation, is said to be on his toes to keep athletes away from ‘conspiracies’ or ‘planted media stings’. While shooter Khurram Inam has already returned to Pakistan, others, including two swimmers and as many athletes, besides the 18-man hockey squad, are expected to return after the closing ceremony on August 13.
Pakistan faced controversy prior to the Olympics when the London-based tabloid The Sun ran a story exposing a “passport scam” in Lahore.
‘Aware of possible controversies’
Pakistan’s chef de mission Syed Aqil Shah said he was taking measures to keep the members away from controversies.
“We are aware of the conspiracies against us,” Shah told The Express Tribune. “The athletes have also been made aware of the possibility of them being targeted. They are not allowed to speak to strangers and are under strict vigilance,” he added.
The chef de mission added that Qadri is an experienced security officer and is doing a good job. He is in the loop with all the members of the delegation including athletes as well as the officials, he added.
Shah said so far no athletes have reported any approach from anyone and added that conspiracies were hatched just to make Pakistani athletes and officials scapegoats in case of any security failure.
“The passport scam was also a back-up plan for them in case of any failures on their part. It wasn’t a credible story as not a single person can enter the Olympics Village without accreditation issued by the International Olympics Committee.”
‘Visa scam’ probe team leaves for UK
Meanwhile, a team of the Federal Investigation Agency left for Britain on Friday to probe The Sun’s ‘Olympic visa scandal’, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The British tabloid had accused Pakistani authorities of providing forged travel documents and smuggling people to the 2012 Summer Games as members of the Olympic delegation, giving potential terrorists a chance to sneak into the high-profile sporting event.
A two-member FIA team, comprising Director FIA Sindh chapter Moazzam Jah and Chief of Staff to Director General FIA Waseem Ahmed Sial, will remain in the UK until the prob is finalised.
FIA Director General Muhammad Anwar Virk told The Express Tribune that the team will examine The Sun’s undercover ‘man’, Pakistani-born British citizen Muhammad Ali Asad, who played a key role in the scandal.
Asad visited Pakistan under the name of Ali Asad, as mentioned in his UK passport, and returned to the UK after acquiring a new Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) and Machine Readable Pakistani passport under the name of Muhammad Ali Asad.
The FIA had registered a case against him on charges of concealing facts regarding his previous manual passport and British citizenship.
He had neither declared his earlier Pakistani passport, obtained through a manual system in 2000, nor his British citizenship when he applied for a new machine readable passport on July 13, 2012.
The FIA team will hold meetings with management of the British tabloid, reporter Stephen Moyes who published the story, the National Press Trust of UK, and officials of the immigration, home office and UK border agency.
The FIA has also requested Britain to extradite of Asad so he could be tried in Pakistan, and will be in touch with Interpol, in this regard.
WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ASAD KHARAL IN LAHORE
Published in The Express Tribune, August 11th, 2012.
COMMENTS (18)
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@James: The same day when ICC became Slave Servant of BCCI,where English News have nothing better than to search every Pakistani Bathroom.
@Usman Malik: The same day that Pakistan became 'The land of the pure'
@ Vikram, Law is law he broke it. Simple he has to pay the price.
@Saqib: "Once, the Brit High Commission starts losing visa fee money, they will be begging the Pakistanis to come to the UK."
Dream on... By the way Britain spends far more on social services for Pakistanis a large percentage of whom are on dole compared to the meager amount it collects as visa fee. So even economically your argument makes no sense.
"They are not allowed to speak to strangers and are under strict vigilance"
Wow, these people are not being treated as national sports heroes but more like young girls whose overprotective parents are trying to protect their virginity - not by instilling right values but rather by not allowing them to speak to anyone.
Sad.
No one in the UK takes the sun seriously. We should just ignore it....
Why the vigilance? were they trying to escape to the west? I live in canada, and we dont need them here !
Insecure people always think others are watching them or talking about them and so on... Pakistan should have thanked British paper for exposing fraud that could have helped terrorists attack some foreign country, In stead Pakistanis have chosen to go after a man who helped expose corruption in agencies that Issue Passports or National Identification cards. I fear for the safety of close relatives of this man in Pakistan.
@Vishnu Dutta: When did India become "rest of the world"?
The biggest enemies of Pakistan are the Pakistanis working for these British newspapers who in their quest to suck up to their white employers are willing to sell their motherland. The same happened with cricket match fixing and now with this.
oh Gosh - now we cant go anywhere without being suspected of something
@Saqib, yeah VISA fee from Pakistan is the biggest source of UK's income,and once deprived they will fall on their knees and beg for mercy.height of delusion...
@Saqib and Arsalan HA HA HA HA Is it a serious comment or a joke of the day
Seems to me the only "conspiracy" is Malik's bogus promise of filing a lawsuit in the UK. It must be embarrassing for Pakistan to have to monitor it's Olympic team like some cold war Communist country to keep them from defecting.
Dear Pakistan. I you you dont trust us but still i want to tell you that no body is after you. just relax ---- Rest of the world.
It is said London Olympics 2012, had many cheats from Britain. It has also been declared the most controversial ever.
Hahaha. Brits are after the Pakistanis. It's time Pakistanis start going some place else. Once, the Brit High Commission starts losing visa fee money, they will be begging the Pakistanis to come to the UK.
Extradite him for what? Try him unddr which law?