Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President Shujaat HussainÂ’s brother Wajahat Hussain and son Shafay Hussain landed at the Islamabad Airport on PIA flight PK-786, after British officials allegedly detained and deported them after they had landed at a London Airport from Spain.According to sources, the pair was given deported passenger status. The immigration officers offloaded them from the plane and detained them for questioning.
Geo News television channel quoted sources as saying that the airport officials had doubts that the two detainees might have links with the 11 Pakistanis who were arrested in Barcelona a few days ago for their alleged links with terrorists. Wajahat and ShujaatÂ’s son came to London to mobilise the Pakistani community ahead of President Pervez MusharrafÂ’s address, according to sources.
The British Foreign Office issued a brief three-line explanatory statement following the deportation of Chaudhry Shujaat HussainÂ’s brother and his son, saying that they were not deported and were free to visit the United Kingdom, Geo News reported.
The British High Commissioner in Islamabad said in a statement that six people were arrested from Gatwick Airport on January 22 for questioning and were released the next day. It said that the detention and questioning didnÂ’t affect the visa status of these people.Also, Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Muhammad Sadiq said in a statement that it was a sad event.
Pakistan has complained with the UK authorities about this. FO sources said the UK High Commission in Islamabad had apologised to Shujaat for the ‘misunderstanding’.