Q 1509: the Obama photo:

Flatmates … Barack Obama and Sohale Siddiqi on the sofa in 1981. Photograph: Phil Boerner https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/03/barack-obama-wild-drugtaking-roommate

In (Obama biographer David) Maraniss's doorstop of a book, Obama first meets Siddiqi at a New Year's Eve party in San Francisco, the young, gangly, would-be president greeting his future roommate with pitch-perfect Urdu, asking: "How are you, Boss?" It was a phrase he had picked up from his best buddies at Occidental College in California – Pakistani students Imad Husain, Hasan Chandoo and Wahid Hamid who, like Siddiqi, were part of Karachi's wealthy elite. So close were the group that Obama went to Pakistan with them for a three-week holiday in 1981, staying with Hamid and Chandoo's families.

Maraniss argues in his book that the group has distanced itself from Obama for fear of hurting his presidency, but they remain friends: "The Pakistanis were a fun-loving bunch," he laughs, talking on the telephone from Washington DC, "but they were intellectuals." Despite their party harder reputations, the three went into highly paid corporate finance: Husain is a Boston-based banker; Hamid works for one of the world's biggest private equity firms in Dubai; and Chandoo – who is recorded to have fundraised some $50,000 to $100,000 for Obama's current campaign – is a financial consultant, living with his family in upmarket Westchester, New York. http://archive.is/njej7

Note: Chandoo and Hamid attended Obama's wedding

Hasan Chandoo: Oppenheimer & Co https://www.citizen.org/hasan-chandoo

from 6 years ago at least: https:// www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150698533737390.424222.729077389&type=3

Chandoo's family is a prominent family in Pakistan with whom Obama stayed for three weeks in 1981. He is also in the higher echelon of the Democratic party and fundraiser of the East Coast Muslims. His mother, Gulshan Chando, is the grandniece of Ali Jinnah, the founder of present day Pakistan. Her husband attended the same school as Pervez Musharraf, former President of Pakistan and both belong to the same Old Patricians Club in Pakistan. Pervez, former military leader, has formed a new political party in Pakistan, the All Pakistan Muslim League and is seeking a move to lead Pakistan again.....

"....when Obama attended Occidental College in California in 1979, his freshman roommate was a Pakistani, Imad Husain, who’s now a Boston banker. Also, as a freshman, he quickly became friends with Mohammed Hasan Chandoo and Wahid Hamid, two more wealthy Pakistani’s who became the reason he travelled to Pakistan in 1981.

Is that the Fed Reserve Bank of Boston? (I couldn't view it)

Imad Husain - Bank Examiner, Credit Specialist - Federal Reserve ... Greater Boston Area - Bank Examiner, Credit Specialist - Federal Reserve Bank of Boston<br />View Imad Husain's profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. Imad has 1 job job listed on their profile. See the complete profile on … https:// www.linkedin.com/in/imadhusain

Wahid Hamid:

https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=31047849&privcapId=32854

Private Equity; Investments; Value Creation; Growth Strategy, Operations, Emerging Markets Greater New York City Area Investment Management * Current: The Abraaj Group * Previous Private Equity and The Boston Consulting Group, PepsiCo, The Boston Consulting Group * Education University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School

In 1981, Obama went to Pakistan for about three weeks. As a student, Obama visited Larkana for a partridge hunting session. He traveled with Wahid Hamid and staying in Karachi with Mohammed Hasan Chandoo’s family in Karachi and visiting Hyderabad as well. Obama also made friends with Chairman of The Pakistani Senate, Muhammadmian Soomro, who said that in Pakistan he [Obama] came to know about Sunni and Shia sects. According to the report of Larry Rohter of April 10, 2008, in The New York Times, the Obama campaign staff, when questioned about the revelation of Obama’s 1981 trip to Karachi, stated: “Mr. Obama visited Pakistan in 1981, on the way back from Indonesia, where his mother and half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, were living. He spent ‘about three weeks’ there, Mr. Obama’s press secretary, Bill Burton, said, staying in Karachi with the family of a college friend, Mohammed Hasan Chandoo, but also traveling to Hyderabad, in India.” " http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2011/05/08/pakistan-outs-cia-station-chief-in-islamabad…/

Muhammad Mian Soomro - Current Head of Pakistani Senate and Former President of Pakistan - Obama 30 year friend

A few (five we are aware of) of Obama’s closest friends live there Imad Husain (former college roomate 1979-80), Ali Hassan Chandio (Occidental College), Wahid Hamid (Occidental College), Sohale Siddiqi (New York – Columbia College). Obama visited there numerous times. Obama maintains close personal 30+ year connections with Pakistani friends (they attended his wedding 1992, and campaign for him 2007-08). Obama’s mom worked and lived there from 1987 to 1992. Joe Biden has a connection there. Obama personally knows the former President of Pakistan Muhammad Mian Soomro, and indeed stayed at his house during a summer visit there in 1981 and still maintains a 30+ year friendship with him. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150698533737390.424222.729077389&type=3

Note: "Senator Biden was the key architect of a very generous and quite sensible support package for Pakistan."

It turns out, however, that Barack Obama may have slightly deeper and more personal connections to Pakistan. First, there is Barak Obama’s mother living on and off in Pakistan for five years. It is quite clear that Ann Dunham, Obama’s mother, did indeed work and live in Pakistan as a consultant to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), working on a project in Gujranwalla (here, here, here). A headline in the Daily Waqt that proclaims that “Obama’s Mother Stayed in Pakistan for 5 Years.” Here is the Daily Waqt report:

The mother of American Presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, Mrs. Ann Dunham lived in Pakistan for five years. During this time, Barack Obama also visited his mother and stayed for a few month. Mrs. Ann Dunham was hired as a consultant by the Asian Development Bank for Pakistan Agricultural Development Bankâ’s Gujranwalla Agricultural Development Program. This program began in 1987 and ended in 1992.

Mrs. Ann Dunham monitored the funds received for this program from the Asian Development Bank and trained the Mobile Credit Officers of the Agricultural Bank. This program was controlled from the Gujranwalla Regional Office. She stayed for five years in the Hilton International Hotel (now Avari Hotel), Lahore. She travelled daily from Lahore to Gujranwalla. When Barack Obama visited Pakistan, he stayed in the same hotel. After returning from Pakistan, she died from cancer within three years.

Mrs. Ann Dunham monitored the funds received for this program from the Asian Development Bank and trained the Mobile Credit Officers of the Agricultural Bank. This program was controlled from the Gujranwalla Regional Office. She stayed for five years in the Hilton International Hotel (now Avari Hotel), Lahore. She travelled daily from Lahore to Gujranwalla. When Barack Obama visited Pakistan, he stayed in the same hotel. After returning from Pakistan, she died from cancer within three years.