Third retraction of a planted report, the way respected press is picking on rumours is display of unprecedented professional negligence.. ..<Ike, Have you seen this from the Foreign Affairs thread, #8204? Do you have any comment?>
Express of India reported it yesterday quoting a very small unreliable paper ' Pakistan Observer' ..
expressindia.com
Today a full retraction in Hindustan Times on that unconfirmed report from a poor source, acknowledging ...
''Pakistan Observer in the meanwhile regrets the error as these can be only construed as professional exigencies."
hindustantimes.com
A son of Pakistan's retired scientist Sultan Bashirudin Mehmood has claimed that his father suffered a heart attack due to "irresponsible reports" linking him to Osama bin Laden.
He alleged his father suffered a massive cardiac arrest after seeing press reports about his alleged detention by Pakistan official agencies to probe his alleged links with terrorist mastermind bin Laden.
He told The Pakistan Observer that his father was removed to hospital after he complained of pain in his chest. "It is a fact that my father has been under great stress after his name was mentioned with Osama bin Laden. But my father has been involved in pure charity and welfare projects," it quoted the scientist's unnamed son as saying.
The daily reported yesterday that Mehmood along with two of his retired colleagues from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) had been handed over to US officials for investigations.
Meanwhile, the newspaper in its defence, said: "Yes indeed some of the family members felt that Mehmood has been picked up by agencies but the matter of the fact is that he was removed to the hospital... Pakistan Observer in the meanwhile regrets the error as these can be only construed as professional exigencies."
The fate of the other two retired PAEC employees, Abdul Majeed, former Chief Engineer and another scientist Mirza Yousaf who too were reported to have been picked up, was still not known.
The newspaper report of three retired scientists being handed over to FBI and CIA officials was denied yesterday by Pakistan's Defence Spokesman Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi. He also said Mehmood had been hospitalised.
General Qureshi said the scientists were questioned not in connection with their alleged links with bin Laden but on the welfare trust floated by them to carry out development projects in Afghanistan.
They were being questioned about their frequent visits to Afghanistan, he said.
"There were questions that needed to be asked and those have been asked. The report that he has been handed over to US authorities or to anyone else is absolutely incorrect and false," he said.
Pakistan Observer reported that Mehmood was released from custody on October 26 night and returned home in a precarious state of mental and physical health.
During the time spent with his family after initial investigations Mahmood appeared nervous, conspicuously quite and displayed signs of extreme stress before he was picked up again on October 28. |
