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Pakistan: Naval Officer Questioned Pakistani and U.S. intelligence officials have questioned Humayun Niaz, a former Pakistani Navy officer, as part of a widening investigation into Ummah Tameer-e-Nau (Foundation for Reconstruction), a relief organization founded by a former top Pakistani nuclear scientist that had ties to Afghanistan. Officials have been investigating the possibility that the organization was a conduit for Pakistani experts with nuclear knowledge to aid the Taliban or al-Qaeda in developing weapons of mass destruction, according to the Boston Globe. Officials detained Niaz in Pakistan almost two weeks ago and have not allowed him to return home, although he has not been officially arrested or charged with a crime. Officials were questioning him about the possibility that Ummah Tameer-e-Nau’s involvement with flour mills near Kandahar, Afghanistan, was actually a cover for nuclear development activities. Niaz’s questioning follows the detention of several prominent scientists involved in the nongovernmental organization, including its founder and former Pakistani nuclear scientist, Sultan Bashiru-din Mehmood (see GSN, Nov. 12). Ummah Tameer-e-Nau members have said their activities were confined to humanitarian purposes, such as improving water supplies and health care. Some of the organization’s leaders have publicly supported the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and Mehmood has openly supported the idea that other Islamic states should gain nuclear weapons, said Lt. Gen. Rashid Qureshi, spokesman for Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. “They had started an NGO which was not properly registered. They did visit Afghanistan. They have made irresponsible statements,” he said. The members of Ummah Tameer-e-Nau were incapable of passing on nuclear secrets, however, Qureshi said, adding, “there is no possibility at all of these people being involved in the passing of nuclear secrets, or nuclear-related secrets, especially where we are talking about fabrication of nuclear weapons. They were never involved.” The investigation has revealed little incriminating evidence, he said (Yvonne Abraham, Boston Globe, Nov. 18).
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