By Gurmukh Singh, IANS,
Toronto : The journalist brother of Tahawwur Rana, who was arrested in the US last month for his alleged role in the Mumbai attacks, says his brother is innocent.
Speaking for the first time after his brother’s arrest, his younger brother, Abbas Rana ,who is a reporter with The Hill Times weekly which exclusively covers the Canadian parliament, was quoted Monday as sayinghis brother was
innocen and the charges against him were “false”.
Writing under the heading “Why The Hill Times supports its reporter, Abbas Rana,” publisher Jim Creskey quoted the younger Rana as saying, “To the best of my knowledge, these charges are false.
“I know my brother. I love my brother. He’s a man of integrity, he’s honest, and he’s a hard-working person.”
The Canadian publisher said, ” Abbas is a respected Parliament Hill (the seat of the Canadian parliament) journalist who has been on The Hill Times staff for seven years. His political and policy knowledge flows from a quiet and thoughtful approach to his work and he revels in the virtues of democratic institutions.”
According to the younger brother, Rana’s arrest had a devastating impact on the family, with his 75-year-old father Wali Rana being hospitalized.
“After getting the news about his brother, Abbas’s worst fears then turned to his father, Wali Rana, 75, who had been in poor health,” the publisher wrote.
“When the story first broke in the American media last month, Abbas and his family members decided not to tell their father because they were afraid it would kill him. They waited for weeks and tried to shield their cable-news-junkie father from news reports, but were forced to tell him two weeks ago. The news put him in the hospital.”
The publisher said, “As I read about his brother’s case in news stories from Chicago, to India, to Canada, I can’t help but notice the innuendo that appears to imply guilt in the reporting on allegations of terrorism.
“Through all of this, we support our reporter, Abbas, and we all look forward to his return to our newsroom.”
The younger Rana has been on leave from the newspaper since the story broke.
“Maybe one day when he gets back Abbas will be able to tell his own personal story of the anguish he and his family have suffered over this investigation. I also think we might all learn that there’s more than meets the eye in the way terrorism cases are investigated and reported on,” the Canadian publisher said.
Forty-eight-year-old Tahawwur Rana, who is a Canadian citizen, was arrested along with David Coleman Headley for plotting to kill the editor and cartoonist of a Danish paper that carried inflammatory cartoon of Prophet Mohammed in 2005.
An immigration consultant, Rana had visited India with his wife just before the Mumbai attack on the pretext of interviewing people wishing to emigrate to Canada and the US.
Though he has been based in Chicago for the past 10 years, Rana co-owns a house with his father and other family members at Kanata on the outskirts of Ottawa.
(Gurmukh Singh can be contacted at [email protected])