Islamabad, Monday 15 December 2008: Pakistani authorities and residents of Ajmal Amir Iman’s village have apparently launched efforts to cover up their links with the lone terrorist arrested for the Mumbai terror attacks, days after his father admitted that the young man as shown by the media was his son.

Pakistani security and intelligence agencies have deployed a large number of personnel in plainclothes at Faridkot in Okara district of Punjab province, from where Ajmal hails, with journalists visiting the area having to face angry protests.

Footage of the intelligence operatives has been aired by News Agencies. They reported that journalists who visited Faridkot on December 6 were surrounded by over 100 people, some of them armed with lathis, who pressurised the reporters not to interview anybody or do any filming in the area.

Ghulam Mustafa Wattoo, the Mayor of the local council who has been at the forefront of efforts to deny Iman’s links to the village, warned the journalists that they would be responsible for the “consequences” if they went against the wishes of the people.

One person tried to snatch the camera and wallet of a foreign journalist and a team from a TV channel was assaulted by persons who snatched their mobile phones and digital video (DV) tapes and tried to smash their cameras.

Asim Rana, who was in-charge of the team, said villagers could not take DV tapes from the camera “with such expertise” because they would not know how to extract the tapes. “It clearly shows that some people from the (security) agencies are among the villagers, who are running the whole show,” Rana said.
(Agency)