* Group threatens Osama with same fate as his father if any action taken against talk show host
* Son of former ISI official says he can confirm Mir, Osman Punjabi murdered his father

LAHORE: Osama Khalid, the son of former Inter-Services Intelligence officer Khalid Khawaja, has claimed that the Asian Tigers have indirectly threatened to do the same to him as they did to his father if any action is taken against Hamid Mir, a private TV channel reported on Thursday.

According to the channel, a foreign reporter contacted Osama who informed him that he had received a mail from the terrorist group, in which they were threatening Osama with a similar fate to that of his father if any action was taken against the talk show host.

Can confirm: Separately, while appearing on a private TV channel, Osama said that he has “firm belief” that talk show host Hamid Mir and Osman Punjabi, a militant associated with the Taliban, were the real murderers of his father.

He said he would present all the records of the telephonic conversations that he had held with Osman Punjabi before the court, as he has enough (telephonic) records to support his case, adding that he believed he would get justice from the judiciary regarding the murder of his father. It is worth mentioning that a little-known Asian Tigers militant group murdered the former ISI officer on April 23.

Osama said he had already confirmed that the unidentified militant in the audiotape talking to Hamid Mir was Osman Punjabi, who used his alias Muhammad Omar while talking to various people. “(But) he (Osman) always talked to me with his original name,” Osama said.

The Daily Times published and Business Plus aired news and the complete transcript of the telephonic conversation between Hamid Mir and the Taliban militant. Three major intelligence agencies later confirmed the authenticity of the audiotape, available on various websites. However, the talk show host has described the taped conversation as “doctored”.

Osama said that he would register a case after collecting further evidences in the murder of his father, adding that he would prove before the court that the audiotape was accurate. Besides the holding of a judicial inquiry, he also appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to take suo motu notice of the matter.

Speaking in the same programme, Daily Times Editor Rashed Rahman said his paper had published the news and the transcript after a detailed discussion. He said that if his paper had not decided to publish the tapped conversation, it could have easily been published on any other media outlet, as the audiotape was easily available on the Internet. He pointed out that the Daily Times published the transcript of the audiotape in the larger interest of the general public, the media and Hamid Mir. “Now the situation has changed and some important quarters have confirmed that the tape is original,” he said.

Participating in the debate, senior journalist Talat Hussain said any other media outlet could have published the taped conversation between Hamid Mir and the militant if Daily Times had decided to not report on such an important piece of news. “One thing is clear, the audiotape contains an extremely sensitive content and apparently it seems authentic,” he said, adding that one could easily point out several flaws in the explanation provided by Hamid Mir on the issue. “Technically, it is indispensable to prove the authenticity of the audiotape and prove whether it was valid or fake. A person has lost his life due to the audiotape, and the contents of the tape leave no doubts for Osama Khalid when he connects its content with the incident of his father’s murder,” Talat said.

Also appearing on the programme, Muhammad Arshad, a freelance journalist, said he had informed the late Khalid Khawaja’s family of the former ISI official’s fate a day before his murder. “I suggested to Osama Khalid that if he wanted to save his father’s life, he should contact Maulana Abdul Aziz. A press conference by Abdul Aziz could have saved Khawaja’s life.”
Source: Daily Times
Date:5/21/2010