November 30, 2002	Saturday	Ramazan 24, 1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

WASHINGTON, Nov 29: Amir Aziz, a Lahore-based surgeon who was released after a month in custody, was arrested because US intelligence agencies believed he could lead them to Osama bin Laden.

Diplomatic sources in Washington say that Dr Aziz is being watched even after his release for a possible clue that could lead investigators to America’s most wanted man.

Dr Aziz told reporters in Lahore earlier this week that ISI and CIA officials — who believe the doctor knows where Osama and other Al Qaeda leaders are hiding — also grilled him about his links with the terrorist network.

US intelligence officials believe that Aziz has met Osama twice. First in 1999 in Kandahar when the Al Qaeda leader sprained his back in a fall from his horse.

The second meeting, according to these officials, took place after the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the US. Dr Aziz, however, denies meeting Osama after Sept 11. He says he met the Al Qaeda chief again in the summer of 2001 during a visit to Kabul to donate books and equipment to the medical school.

US intelligence agents first learned about Aziz from the Al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. Later, Abu Zubaida, so far the highest ranking Al Qaeda official in US custody, also told his interrogators that Aziz used to treat Al Qaeda operatives at his hospital.

The Americans conveyed this information to the Pakistan authorities who brought Dr Aziz to an ISI safe house in Islamabad and arranged for American intelligence agents to interrogate him, The New York Times reported this week.