Shahzad's Dad: Family Knew Nothing of Plot

Pakistan neighbors stunned
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 6, 2010 4:52 AM CDT
Shahzad's Dad: Family Knew Nothing of Plot
A donkey cart drives past a house in Peshawar, Pakistan, owned by Faisal Shahzad's family.   (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

Faisal Shahzad's father, a retired Pakistani Air Force commander, says he knew nothing of his son's alleged links to terror groups. Air Vice-Marshal Baharul Haq, who once headed Pakistan's civil aviation authority, told the Sun that he was contacting the Pakistani government to find out the truth about his son. "How can I appeal for his release if he's really involved in the terror plan?" he asked from his home in Peshawar.

Friends of the family were amazed to learn Shahzad had been arrested for the attempted car bombing in Times Square. "He came from a respectable family and was not even a religious person," one neighbor said. Another villager was skeptical about the charges. "America is our enemy,” he told the Times of London. “It wants to defame us. The arrest of Faisal is meant to malign a respected family and Pakistan.” (More Faisal Shahzad stories.)

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