Did the government ask a Worcester religious figure to go home?

By Michael Warshaw

It appears that Hafiz Muhammed Hamid, imam of the Islamic Society of Greater Worcester (ISGW), has left the United States and returned to his homeland of Pakistan. Although early reports claiming he and his family were deported appear to have been incorrect, the question remains as to whether Hamid was asked to leave the country.

On Monday, June 4, veteran Pakistani journalist Khalid Hasan, Washington, D.C.-based correspondent for The Daily Times of Lahore, Pakistan, reported as follows:

"Imam Hafiz Muhammad Hamid, brother of Hafiz Saeed of Lashkar-e-Taiba, was deported along with his family from the United States on Sunday .... Hafiz Hamid was imam at the Islamic Centre of Greater Worcester, Massachusetts, and had been fighting immigration regulation infringements for the last several months. His other brother, Hafiz Muhammad Masood, is also fighting deportation and is now waiting for the next hearing of a U.S. federal immigration court on Oct. 11 this year. On Friday, June 1, his friends and supporters arranged a fundraiser for Hamid and his family. In 2000, the deported imam came to the U.S. to attend a finance conference organized by the Harvard Programme for Islamic Finance. He stayed on to become the imam of the Worcester mosque. He worked closely with the Islamic Society of Boston. Before coming to the U.S., he is believed to have been in charge of the Lashkar-e-Taiba safe house at Moon Chowk, Lahore, a "facility that no longer exists."

Briefly contacted by cell phone on Monday, Hamid called the report "absurd," adding, "My status is perfect here." Tahir Ali, a spokesman for ISGW to whom Hamid referred Worcester Magazine's request for more information, stated, "He's still here, right? He's not been deported." Ali did acknowledge, however, that Hamid was traveling this week back home, adding, "He will be back as soon as the [Immigration] papers come through."

Also on Monday, Hasan of the Daily Times acknowledged, "There appears to have been a hitch or a glitch somewhere" in his own report and that Hamid was still in the United States.

On Tuesday, Hasan clarified his report, citing a source that has proved reliable in the past. According to that source, Hasan says, Hamid "was given a choice between deportation and voluntary deportation" and likely left on his own accord. In fact, in a dispatch filed Tuesday for publication yesterday, Hasan reported that "Imam Hafiz M. Hamid ... and his family were unable to leave the U.S. on Monday night as U.K. authorities refused to permit them to transit through London. Efforts are now afoot to have them put on a flight that does not encounter such a problem. The family stayed at the Boston airport until late Monday night." According to Hasan, the problem was that Hamid lacked an American visa.

On Tuesday, a source in the Boston U.S. Attorney's office referred inquiries regarding Hamid's status to the New England office of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, which failed to provide answers before deadline.

Hasan charges that Hamid is brother to Hafiz Saeed, a founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, or Lashkar-e-Toiba, which he characterizes as a "very powerful, rich, and well-armed group" and which had been, he adds, involved in struggles in Afghanistan and Chechnya, among other places. The group is best known for violence in Kashmir and it was reportedly banned in Pakistan in 2002.

Tahir Ali warns against jumping to conclusions regarding Hamid based on that connection, saying, "In this tense climate, people just add two and two and come up with five." Hasan, on the other hand, applauds the departure of Hamid, saying, "These people should not be here because of their linkages." o