Karachi, Sept 05: A Pakistani businessman, who was being sought for questioning by US authorities and who disappeared two months ago, is in us custody in Afghanistan, his wife said today. Farhat Paracha told a news agency that she received a letter yesterday from her husband, Saifullah Paracha, who disappeared on July 5, saying, "I am in Kabul with US authorities”.

A US military spokesman at Bagram air base, the US-led coalition's headquarters just north of the Afghan capital Kabul, would not confirm Saifullah Paracha was being detained.

US authorities have been seeking him for questioning about possible links to terrorist groups. His 23-year-old son, Uzair, is in custody in the United States charged with conspiring to aid al-Qaida. If convicted, he could be jailed for 15 years and fined USD 250,000.
In tears, his wife said the us embassy and Pakistani authorities have refused to release information about his whereabouts or to even say whether he was in US custody following his disappearance.

“I thought maybe he was dead. Right now I am just so happy he is alive,'' she said in her home in Karachi.

The city's police chief, Asad Ashraf Malik, said officers had tried to trace Paracha but had been unsuccessful.
Farhat said her son was innocent. She said she did not know if her husband had been charged.

Bureau Report