AN INTERVIEW of a British teenager broadcast on a Pakistani television network has thrown into doubt investigators’ claims that all the three London bombers of Pakistani descent visited Pakistan last year. According to the investigators, the three bombers had died in the July 7 attacks.

But 16-year-old Hasib Hussain, a namesake of one of the putative bombers and of Pakistani descent, said in the interview that a photograph of a passport purporting to show bomber Hasib Hussain, 19, was his, and not that of the ‘bomber’.

The photo, together with documents showing that Hasib and two other bombers visited Pakistan last year, was published in newspapers on Monday.

“I first saw my photograph on Channel 4 [British TV network) and I was terrified,” Hasib Hussain, the teenager said in the interview with the ARY network on Thursday.

“I didn’t want people looking at me saying ‘hey, you are supposed to be dead’,” he said, “or someone saying that there goes the London bomber.”

On Monday, Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said Hasib Hussain, carrying a British passport, had arrived in Karachi from Riyadh on July 15 last year.

The father of Hasib (the interviewee) said that the family had indeed visited Karachi last year.

He urged the British and Pakistani authorities to clear up the confusion.

An FIA official told the BBC: “We have nothing to say on the matter at this stage.” —BBC

Opinion

Editorial

X post facto
Updated 19 Apr, 2024

X post facto

Our decision-makers should realise the harm they are causing.
Insufficient inquiry
19 Apr, 2024

Insufficient inquiry

UNLESS the state is honest about the mistakes its functionaries have made, we will be doomed to repeat our follies....
Melting glaciers
19 Apr, 2024

Melting glaciers

AFTER several rain-related deaths in KP in recent days, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority has sprung into...
IMF’s projections
Updated 18 Apr, 2024

IMF’s projections

The problems are well-known and the country is aware of what is needed to stabilise the economy; the challenge is follow-through and implementation.
Hepatitis crisis
18 Apr, 2024

Hepatitis crisis

THE sheer scale of the crisis is staggering. A new WHO report flags Pakistan as the country with the highest number...
Never-ending suffering
18 Apr, 2024

Never-ending suffering

OVER the weekend, the world witnessed an intense spectacle when Iran launched its drone-and-missile barrage against...