VOA标准英语2009年-5 American Men Arrested in Pakistan

Pakistani police say the men were detained during a raid on the home of a local leader of the banned militant¹ group Jaish-e-Muhammad.

Aru Pande | Washington 10 December 2009
 

Nihad Awad, national executive director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, speaks at a news conference in Washington, 09 Dec 2009

 

"We know that much of the training and the direction for terrorists comes from Pakistan and the border area with Afghanistan," said Hillary Clinton.
Pakistani officials say five American men arrested in Pakistan recently are being investigated for alleged² links to extremist groups.  Family members and U.S. authorities have been searching for five missing U.S. students from the Washington, D.C. area since their disappearance³ in late November.

Pakistani police say the men were detained during a raid on the home of a local leader of the banned militant group Jaish-e-Muhammad, in Pakistan's Punjab province.  Authorities are trying to determine if the men are linked to recent attacks in the region, although no charges have yet been filed.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation⁴ says it is in contact with the families of the five men and is working with Pakistani authorities to determine their identities, the nature of their business in Pakistan, and if indeed the men  are the students who went missing late last month.

In Washington, officials with the Council on American Islamic Relations said the five were Muslims who had disappeared from their homes in Northern Virginia.  CAIR's Executive Director, Nihad Awad, told reporters the students' families contacted the Muslim organization after their sons went missing.  Awad said relatives brought along what authorities are calling a farewell video.

U.S. officials said in that video the men said Muslims must be defended.

"They did not specify⁵ what they will be doing, but just hearing and seeing videos similar [to what is] on the Internet, it just made me uncomfortable," said Awad.

CAIR then contacted the FBI and handed over the video and information to U.S. authorities.  Imam Johari Abdul-Malik is member of the Coordinating⁶ Council of Muslim Organizations and spoke⁷ alongside CAIR officials at a press briefing on Wednesday.

"As a result of our coordinated⁸ and cooperative engagement that these young people are not at large," he said.  "We can feel hopeful that whatever was going to happen, which we don't know what it was, that we can rest assured that at least these young people hopefully will be back in the United States."

A U.S. State Department spokesman said Wednesday the U.S. embassy in Islamabad was seeking further information about those detained in Pakistan. 

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declined to comment about the arrests but said the United States was concerned about the work of extremists groups in Pakistan.

"We know that much of the training and the direction for terrorists comes from Pakistan and the border area with Afghanistan," said Clinton.

The arrests came as a Pakistani-American, David Headley, pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges in a U.S. court in Chicago on Wednesday.  Headly, who was was arrested in October, is accused of planning a 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai,India that killed more than 160 people.

 

1 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

2 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

3 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

4 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

5 specify   

vt.指定，详细说明

参考例句：

• We should specify a time and a place for the meeting.我们应指定会议的时间和地点。
• Please specify what you will do.请你详述一下你将做什么。

6 coordinating   

v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的现在分词 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• He abolished the Operations Coordinating Board and the Planning Board. 他废除了行动协调委员会和计划委员会。 来自辞典例句
• He's coordinating the wedding, and then we're not going to invite him? 他是来协调婚礼的，难道我们不去请他？ 来自电影对白

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法