A heavy contingent of police and intelligence personnel raided at midnight the residence of Ghulam Mustafa in village 196/EB (Vehari), some 100km south-east of Multan, and arrested his father Abdul Rashid (65), a retired Beldar of the irrigation department.
Police reportedly seized some documents and weapons from his home and took him to an unidentified place for interrogation.
Ghulam Mustafa (34), who is among the nine terrorists having close link with al Qaeda and arrested by law enforcement agencies in Islamabad recently, has joined Hizb-ul-Mujahideen in 1990 and took part in the Afghan war against Russia. Later, he joined the Taleban. He had friendly ties with Arab Mujahideen, who reportedly stayed with him at his home.
"We have taken Abdul Rashid, father of Ghulam Mustafa, a terrorist, in our custody for interrogation and to get information about the foreigners, who had visited his home in the recent past," said Mukhtar Iqbal Tikka, DPO Vehari.
Ghulam Mustafa's brother-in-law Zulfikar Ahmed said, "Vehari Sadar police detained him ( Abdul Rashid) for six hours. The police questioned him about the foreigners, particularly the Arabs. But he ruled out the possibility of close contacts of Ghulam Mustafa with Osama or any Arab freedom fighters.