Melbourne: Mohammed Haneef today broke into tears after being shown the photographs of his newborn daughter in the first family meeting in Australia since he was detained three weeks ago after being charged in the foiled terror plot in the UK.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard meanwhile denied his involvement in Haneef's visa being cancelled by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews or leaking information to the media designed to taint the Indian doctor.

A cousin of Haneef's wife, Imran Siddiqui, who flew in from Bangalore over the weekend, said both he and Haneef cried when they met each other this afternoon at the Wolston Correctional Centre, west of Brisbane, according to ABC.

Howard told a local TV channel he had discussed Haneef's visa with Andrews and senior members of cabinet, but had left it to Andrews to decide on a course of action.

The Australian Federal Police(AFP) meanwhile got some breather from the barrage of criticism over its handling of the case when Haneef contacted his lawyer yesterday to correct a media report that police officers had written names of some overseas suspects in his diary.

Haneef said the names of the alleged terror suspects, believed to be his two second cousins in the  UK who had been charged in the terror plot, were written on a piece of paper the police had shown him. The federal police commissioner, Mick Keelty, also issued a statement saying police did not write in Haneef's diary.

His solicitor Peter Russo said after Siddiqui's meeting with Haneef, "He(Haneef) was very proud, he had the look of the doting dad and he looked at the photos for quite a length of time." Siddiqui said he found it difficult to understand why his relative was being incarcerated and that Tuesday's meeting was troubling for him. "I was really not very happy to see him in that condition, I think he was trying to digest my visit," he said. "He was very happy but probably he was feeling a bit uncomfortable also that someone from back home was going to see him in prison. At the same time he is trying to smile at you and at the same time his tears are coming out," Siddiqui said, according to a TV channel.

"It's very hard for any human being who's got some sort of humanity within him to digest this" he further said.

Haneef was only granted television access last Thursday, following his move from the Brisbane Watchhouse.

Russo said Haneef was "perplexed" by the media and the political attention his case was receiving. "I know personally he's not happy about that, he regards himself as being a doctor working at the Gold Coast Hospital so he's a bit confused as to why politicians would be so concerned about what's going on," he said. "He's not politically aware of our system...he's a bit perplexed about the interest."

Siddiqui and Russo will travel to Canberra on Wednesday to meet with the Indian High Commissioner to discuss the case. They are expected to visit Haneef in prison again later this week.

The Australian government said it was comfortable with the way the federal police had handled the investigation into Haneef's case. "I am entirely comfortable (with the investigation) - the federal police are enormously professional," Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said and admitted it was difficult to get the balance right between civil liberties and stopping terrorism.

Downer also dismissed as party politicking Queensland Premier Peter Beattie lashing out at the AFP's handling of the case. "(Beattie) has gone out and denigrated not the Queensland police, but the federal police for party political reasons and that reflects very badly on him," Downer further
commented.

Howard backed Downer and said Beattie's comments are extremely unhelpful to the investigations. Beattie denied he attacked the AFP and was undermining public confidence in the police force in it saying it was up to the courts to decide Haneef's fate.