Qayyum Jamal - Relationship With Wajid Khan

Relationship With Wajid Khan

When local Member of Parliament Wajid Khan began attending the Ar-Rahman mosque in the summer of 2005, Jamal introduced him to the congregation saying that he had come to bring messages from the government, and countered that he would like to send the government a message of his own - that Canadian troops in Afghanistan were not doing any good. Khan, a former Air Force pilot in Pakistan, interrupted Jamal to state that such comments would not be tolerated, before walking out of the mosque angrily. Both Jamal and his wife criticised Khan, and requested that the mosque not invite him back as a speaker, since they felt he had misused the religious service "as a political soapbox". Khan subsequently referred to Jamal;

"I took issue with him. I think we have to be extremely vigilant in the Muslim community. We have to watch out for people who are trying to teach disaffected youths that it's the Muslims against the rest, a war of civilizations. Anyone talking through his hat should be kicked out and reported."

Khan later referred to the altercation, saying he pushed Jamal aside because he was "speaking nonsense" and referred to him as an "idiot" with "piss-poor" command of the English language. Khan, who was serving as the chairman of the caucus committee on the Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act at the time, later reported Jamal's behavior to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

Seven weeks before the arrests, Jamal's wife wrote to Khan complaining about the 32nd Brigade training for Operation Talon for deployment to Afghanistan on the property of her sons' Islamic school in Oakville in full combat gear. She allegedly challenged him, stating that "we've all heard your bark, now let's see what's behind your bite".

Macleans later reported that "the possibility that a member of Parliament was among those who raised the alarm about Jamal is an intriging twist in the complex story of how police built their case leading to the arrests".