Father of Times Square suspect a 'patriotic man' who raised his family 'cleanly' - washingtonpost

MOHIB BANDA, PAKISTAN -- On a bright spring day in 1976, a Pakistani flight instructor watched approvingly as his Royal Air Force trainees, flying in formation over the English countryside, wrote out "Five-O" in perfect trailer smoke. It was Queen Elizabeth II's 50th birthday, and one of the proudest moments of Bahar ul-Haq's life.

Today Haq, 70, a retired vice air marshal in Pakistan's air force, is hiding in humiliation and shock, secluded somewhere in the northwestern city of Peshawar. His younger son, Faisal Shahzad, whom friends say he sent to the United States to study and to escape Pakistan's problems, stands accused of attempting to explode a bomb in New York's Times Square with help from Islamist militants.

Haq "is very, very depressed. He is an honorable, patriotic man who worked hard to rise in the air force and raise his children cleanly. Now his family's reputation has been destroyed," said Hajji Sherzada, a retired importer who is a lifelong friend of Haq's and said he has spoken to him by phone several times since the son's arrest last week. "Every time his wife gets on the phone, she just cries."

Shahzad, 30, grew up in a stable community where most people were educated and many were part of Pakistan's close-knit military world. His father, an accomplished pilot, rose from humble village roots to the top ranks of the air force, serving stints in Britain and Saudi Arabia. Several other family members were air force officers, including Shahzad's maternal grandfather.

Described by friends as a strict and protective father, he raised his children to become civilian professionals: Faisal's older brother is an engineer in Canada, and one sister is a doctor.

"Faisal's father was liberal, not religious. We are all Muslims here, but there are no extremists in our community," said Badal Khan, a cousin and finance officer for a telephone company, who spent Tuesday showing a team of federal police investigators around Mohib Banda.

Shirzada Bacha, a maternal uncle of Shahzad's, said that if Haq had suspected that his son was involved in extremist activities, he would have "killed him in the house." ..... - Joint Statement from the President and President Karzai of Afghanistan

Man claims he aided Times Square suspect
Op-Ed Columnist - Pakistan and Times Square - NYTimes