IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST MERCIFUL, THE MOST BENEFICENT ASSALAM-O ALAIKUM ------------------------------------------------------------ A group of 11 Pakistani qawwaals (religious musicians)were going from Washington to Los Angeles on April 28, 2002 when they were removed from the flight 191. The reason: Attendants noticed the men "sweating, acting nervous and making frequent trips to the lavatory". I guess the attendants never flew PIA.
After the incident the crew reported they were too "distraught" to fly - a good excuse for a day off, I guess. The qawwaals were removed and the plane left without them with a new not-so-distraught crew. By the time the group was freed after questioning from FBI, their next flight 197 had already left. They stayed overnight in Washington. The next day they were aboard flight 187 when flight attendants reported that the members of the group were "acting nervous and staring toward the cockpit". They were removed again and had to stay yet another night. Finally United Airlines decided to split the group for later travel the next day. Hopefully they made it before their presentation. Meanwhile, Pakistan Embassy refused to get involved since it was a "private group", accoding to Asad Hayauddin, press attaché for the Embassy of Pakistan. He didn't mention what is a "private" musician group and if there are "government musician groups" they would have supported. It is important to note that prior to their humiliating trip to the East Coast, this "private group" presented at the Pakistan Embassy at a "private event". Good bless us all. WASHINGTON POST: In Aftermath of Hijackings, Air Travel Jitters Remain http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3614-2002Apr29.html NPR NEWS (AUDIO): Airplane Profiling http://search1.npr.org/opt/collections/torched/atc/data_atc/seg_142577.htm ------------------------------------------------------------ FARIDI NETWORK - sharing the knowledge http://faridi.net subscription : http://faridi.net list archives : http://faridi.net/news/archives/ palestine : http://faridi.net/oppressed/palestine/
