Pakistan origin British peer puts 10 million pound bounty on Obama
In a remark that led to his suspension from the Labour Party, Lord Nazir Ahmed, a controversial Pakistani-origin British peer, has reportedly offered 10 million pounds for arresting US President Barack Obama and his predecessor George Bush,
Ahmed, 53, who became the first Muslim life peer in 1998, made the alleged comments at a conference in Haripur in Pakistan last week, according to Pakistan's Express Tribune newspaper.
The reported comments prompted the Labour Party to oust Ahmed, pending investigation.
"We have suspended Lord Ahmed pending investigation. If these comments are accurate we utterly condemn these remarks which are totally unacceptable," a party spokesperson said.
"The international community is rightly doing all in its power to seek justice for the victims of the Mumbai bombings and halt terrorism."
The Pakistani newspaper said Ahmed declared the bounty in retaliation to the US reward for the capture of Hafiz Saeed, the founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba a terror outfit blamed for the 2008 attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai.
Ahmed in his remarks said: "f the US can announce a reward of $10 million for (the capture of) Hafiz Saeed, I can announce a bounty of 10 million pound (for the capture of) President Obama and his predecessor, George Bush."
He also called the US bounty as an "insult to all Muslims".
The London-based Telegraph said a former Pakistan foreign minister and a provincial education minister were present at the reception where Ahmed made the comments. The reception was arranged in his honour by the business community of Haripur
The peer had earlier courted controversy in 2007 when he criticised the awarding of a Knighthood to Salman Rushdie, claiming that the author had "blood on his hands".
Ahmed denied offering a bounty and said he had told the Haripur meeting that Bush and former Labour prime minister Tony Blair should be prosecuted for war crimes.
Source: Southeast Asia News.Net
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