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Doc Wanted For Four Murders Nabbed

Alan Fernandes in New York

When Dr Nawaz Ahmed was arrested at the JFK airport this weekend half an hour before he could board a PIA flight to Karachi, officials say he gave up with a shrug of shoulders and a small, sad smile.

Considering that Dr Ahmed is the suspect in the murder of his estranged wife, her father, sister and niece and had fled the scene of the crime in a sleepy little Ohio city, the New York police believe his arrest was one smooth exercise.

The murders were committed a few days before the final divorce proceedings against him could start. The family members were staying with the wife to give her moral support during the last stage of divorce, friends of the family said. The couple's two sons, Tariq, 7, and Ahsan, 4, were reportedly at a relative's home when the murders were committed.

Dr Ahmed, 44, who emigrated to the United States after leaving the Pakistan Air Force Academy in 1987 where he worked as a doctor, also earned a bachelor's degree in computer science at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago.

But his material success could not compensate for the loss of his family ties, authorities who issued a nationwide alert for him late last week believe. Dr Ahmed was being held in New York pending his extradition to Ohio; he made no statement to the police following his arrest.

The police discovered the four bodies in St Clairsville when family members called them saying that phone calls had not been answered over several hours.

Lubaina Bhatti Ahmed, 39, also a medical doctor, had initiated divorce proceedings against her husband last year, claiming she had been tired of his physical and emotional torture inflicted on her for over five years.

Along with Lubaina also killed were her father Abdul Majid Bhatti, her sister Ruhie Ahmad and niece Nasira Ahmad, who was about three years old. Bhatti had come from Canada and the Ahmads from Oakland, California. Ruhie was expected to testify in the divorce case.

All victims had their throats slashed, the police said.

According to Grace Hoffman, a St Clairsville lawyer who was representing Dr Ahmed in the divorce case, her client had contacted the police and filed complaints in 1994 and 1995 when the couple lived in the neigboring West Virginia state. But Mrs Ahmed changed her mind and stayed with him.

"She was afraid of him but she never thought he would kill her," Hoffman said. Nawaz Ahmed continually threatened to have her deported since she was not an American citizen. Friends of the family said the threat was meaningless because Mrs Ahmed was a legal resident.

But this year Lubaina Bhatti Ahmed sought court order barring her husband from their St Clairsville house. Her father, a Canadian citizen, had been staying with her for several weeks, and the sister and niece joined them on Friday.

Nawaz and Lubaina were married about eight years ago. After she initiated divorce proceedings, he moved to Columbus, about 100 miles away, and found a job with a telephone firm.

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