Washington : Three Pakistani-origin Americans, including two
clerics at mosques in Florida, and three Pakistanis have been charged with
providing support to the Pakistani Taliban, a media report said Saturday.
Three US citizens, Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, 76, imam or a spiritual
leader, of Miami Mosque, his son Izhar Khan, 24, also an imam in Florida, and
another son Irfan Khan, 37, were arrested for supporting terrorist activities,
the Wall Street Journal said.
Hafiz and Izhar were arrested Saturday in Miami. Irfan was arrested in Los
Angeles.
Also charged are Amina Khan, her son Alam Zeb and Ali Rehman, all residents
of Pakistan. They haven’t been arrested. Amina is a daughter of Hafiz, the
report said.
The six are charged with conspiracy and providing material support to the
Pakistani Taliban which has been designated by the US as a terror group.
Prosecutors allege that Hafiz and others helped send money through bank
accounts and wire transfers to help the Pakistani Taliban sustain its fighters
and buy weapons.
The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, is
responsible for several major terror attacks in Pakistan, Afghanistan and the
2010 Times Square bombing attempt.
On Friday, the group claimed responsibility for an attack on a paramilitary
training school in Pakistan that killed 89 people. The group said the twin
suicide was a revenge for the US operation that killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin
Laden May 2.
Miami US attorney Wilfredo Ferrer said: ‘Despite being an imam, Hafiz Khan
was by no means a man of peace. Instead, as today’s charges show, he acted with
others to support terrorists to further acts of murder, kidnapping and
maiming.’
The indictment alleges that Hafiz ran a madrassa in the Swat region of
Pakistan which he used to support the Pakistani Taliban. This included sending
children from his madrassa to learn to kill Americans in Afghanistan, the
journal reported. IANS
