TEMPO, 27 Feb 2003 14:20:49 WIB
National
4 Pakistan Citizens Deported from Maluku
27 Feb 2003 14:20:49 WIB
TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Four Pakistan citizens arrested in Masohi, Central
Maluku, have finally been deported from the province.
They were charged of entering an area that has been closed to foreigners and did not
bring proper immigration documents.
The four left Ambon on Wednesday (26/2) after being questioned by the Maluku
Police.
They were travelling on the ship KM Lambelu to Jakarta from where they will be flown
to Pakistan.
The Maluku Police concluded that the four people –- Muhammad Nawaz (56),
Muhammad Saleem Abid (36), Naveed Qamber (53) and Khalid Khan (36) –- had
violated immigration laws.
Their passports that are valid until 2007 were complete with visas for a social-cultural
mission.
However, the police arrested them while they were preaching at the Al-Muawanah
Mosque in Masohi.
During the hearing session, they admitted that no organization had sent them nor
provided funds to finance their mission in Maluku.
"They don’t get funds from radical Islamic movements such as AL Qaeda headed by
Osama bin Laden," the Ambon Ekspress daily newspaper quoted Naveed Qamber as
saying on Tuesday (25/2) in Ambon.
"It was an individual responsibility that made us come to Maluku; we are not
answerable to Al Qaeda," Naveed said.
The four Pakistanis have been in Maluku since February 15, having traveled there from
Makassar on board the MV Doloronda ship.
They told the police they had preached in various mosques and homes to make
Islamic people more aware about Islamic movements.
In their statement, they said that a military medical doctor, Dr. Rochmat, helped them
to enter Maluku. (Friets Kerlely-Ambon)
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