KOHAT, Oct 2: Military authorities on Wednesday arrested the chief of an NGO on suspicion of having links with Al Qaeda network, officials confirmed here on Thursday.

Mahmood Iqbal Durrani, chief executive of Friends of Pakistan, was arrested after the Military Intelligence and the police conducted a joint raid on the NGO’s office located in the Al Rauf market. Officials later seized accounts books and sealed the office premises.

A police official told Dawn that a Maj Asif Nawaz of the Military Intelligence conferred with SSP Abid Ali on Wednesday morning before raiding the NGO’s office. Officials confirmed that the NGO had been receiving funds from two Dubai-based Pakistani businessmen.

The NGO had been engaged in planning budgetary proposals for raising the living standard of the people.