Villagers stage a protest in Faridkot. (AFP)

Islamabad, Dec. 15 (PTI): Pakistani authorities and residents of Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman’s village have apparently launched efforts to cover up links with the lone gunman arrested for the Mumbai attacks.

Pakistani security and intelligence agencies have deployed a large number of personnel in plainclothes at Faridkot in Okara district of Punjab province, days after the gunman’s father identified him as his son.

Footage of the intelligence operatives has been aired by Geo News channel. The News reported that journalists who visited Faridkot on December 6 were surrounded by over 100 people — some with lathis — and were prevented from interviewing anybody or filming anything.

Ghulam Mustafa Wattoo, the mayor of the local council who has been at the forefront of efforts to deny Ajmal’s links with the village, warned the journalists that they would be responsible for the “consequences” if they went against the wishes of the people.

One villager tried to snatch the camera and wallet of a foreign journalist. A team from a TV channel was assaulted by residents who snatched their mobile phones and digital video tapes and tried to smash their cameras.

Asim Rana, in charge of the team, said the villagers did not know how to extract the tapes from the camera “with such expertise”.

“It clearly shows that some people from the (security) agencies are among the villagers who are running the whole show,” Rana said.

A top Pakistani politician and a senior Punjab police official had confirmed to a foreign journalist that Ajmal belonged to Faridkot, The News reported.

Yesterday, hundreds from Faridkot blocked the Dipalpur-Kasur road for about two hours to protest a media campaign “wrongly linking their village” to Ajmal. During the protest, the mayor reiterated Ajmal was not a resident of the village and not related to anyone there.

Ajmal’s father Amir Kasab had admitted to The Dawn newspaper that the gunman in the footage of the attack at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai was his son.

Foreign sleuth bar

Pakistan will not allow foreign investigators to interrogate those detained over the Mumbai attacks, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said today. He told Parliament he had turned down Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s request to allow British police to question arrested suspects.