Contractor who built Osama's house questioned

Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, May 4 (PTI) Pakistani authorities Wednesday
detained and questioned the contractor who built the compound
near the garrison city of Abbottabad where Al Qaeda leader
Osama bin Laden was killed during a raid by US special forces.
Noor Muhammad, also known as Gul Madah or Mithu Khan,
was picked up at 2 am (local time) from his residence near
Bilal Town neighbourhood, where bin Laden's compound is
located, TV news channels reported.
Muhammad, aged between 45 and 50 years, was released
in the afternoon after being questioned at an undisclosed
location.
He hails from Battagram district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
province and had been living near Abbottabad for some years.
Security agencies also questioned others involved in
constructing the compound and providing construction
materials.
After he was released, Muhammad told Geo News channel
that he began constructing the compound after the 2005
earthquake that hit northern Pakistan and the Kashmir region.
The compound was completed in about 18 months, he
said.
Muhammad said he was given the plans for the compound
and funds by one Arshad Khan from Charsadda district in
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Khan is believed to be the courier whose detection led
the CIA to bin Laden.
The courier and his brother were killed along with bin
Laden during Monday's raid by helicopter-borne US special
forces on the compound located about 800 yards from the
Pakistan Military Academy.
Bin Laden's presence in the compound near one of the
country's main military training facilities has caused
embarrassment for the military and intelligence set-ups and
led to pointed questions from top US anti-terrorism officials
like CIA chief Leon Panetta and Counter-Terrorism Advisor John
Brennan.
An unnamed Inter-Services Intelligence official told
Western media Tuesday that the compound had been raided in
2003 during a search for a top Al Qaida operative.
Since then, the compound had not been on the ISI's
radar, the official said.
The land for the compound was acquired in three
separate deals by Arshad Khan.
Mahfooz-ul-Haq, a doctor, sold a plot to Khan in 2005.
The most wanted man's compound, to which the media was
given limited access Tuesday after the military handed it
over to police, was sealed again this morning as US and
Pakistani officials visited to examine it.
After the officials left, police and security forces
again let the media go up to the compound but did not allow
them to enter it.
With greater media access, more details emerged about
the compound and its occupants.
Another nearby compound, located about 50 metres from
bin Laden's back wall, apparently belonged to Major Amir Aziz,
whom local residents described to the Guardian newspaper as a
serving army officer.
The walls of bin Laden's compound were three feet
thick and 16 feet high, ABC News reported.
A local shopkeeper told the channel that the residents
liked Coke and Pepsi, which was delivered in bulk to the
compound.
A 12-year-old boy who was one of the few persons
allowed into the compound said he was gifted a pair of rabbits
by the residents.
Those within the compound rarely interacted with local
residents during occasions like funerals and weddings and
children playing cricket in the neighbourhood were never
allowed to collect balls that fell inside the compound.
Arshad Khan and his brother Tariq Khan, who probably
used false names, never told local residents what they did for
a living.
When they were asked about the high walls of their
compound, the brothers would say that they hailed from the
tribal areas, where rivalries are common, and that the walls
were meant to keep out their enemies.