Pakistani 'Terror Plot Suspects' To Be Deported Rather Than Charged

Pakistani 'Terror Plot Suspects' To Be Deported Rather Than Charged

*By Sean O’Neill, Zahid Hussain and Michael Evans From The Times April 13, 2009

(NSI News Source Info) April 13, 2009: Most of the Pakistani men arrested last week in an anti-terrorist operation will be deported rather than charged, senior counter-terrorism sources told The Times last night. (Photo: Haji Hazrat Ali with a portrait of his son Mohammad Ramzan) Officials in London and Islamabad said that Britain had begun seeking assurances about how the men would be treated if they were returned to Pakistan. “The British wanted to be reassured that if some of these men were deported they would not face torture,” an informed source in Pakistan said. One of the 12 men detained, an 18-year-old, has been freed from anti-terrorist detention and is in the custody of immigration officials. Investigators are concerned that they have not found any firm evidence linking the men to terrorist attack plans. A source close to the inquiry said: “There is already talk of coming up empty-handed and there is terrible infighting between the different forces involved.” Operation Pathway, the codename for the inquiry, has already led to the resignation of Britain’s most senior anti-terrorist officer, Bob Quick, after he accidentally revealed details of the arrest plans to photographers in Downing Street. If it results in deportations rather than charges, it will also embarrass the Prime Minister, who said that the police were dealing with “a very big terrorist plot” and had criticised Pakistan for not doing more to tackle Islamist terrorism. The latest discussions between London and Islamabad were disclosed as news emerged from Pakistan that its anti-terrorist agencies had been holding a British convert to Islam for two weeks. James McLintock, 44, was detained in Peshawar, from where many of the men arrested in Britain come, and is being questioned about helping British Muslim militants to make contacts in Pakistan. Pakistani and British officials said that the arrest of Mr McLintock, from Dundee, was not linked to the continuing terrorism investigation in Britain. The last time he came to the attention of the British authorities, however, was in late 2003 when he was questioned by anti-terrorist police in Manchester, the city at the heart of the plot allegations. The family of a man studying at Liverpool John Moores University said they believed that their son had been arrested and appealed for his release. Relatives of Mohammad Ramzan, from Dera in Pakistan, said that they had been unable to contact him since last week. Haji Hazrat Ali, his father, told Associated Press that Mr Ramzan, 25, travelled to Britain in 2006 and was studying for an MBA. Mr Ali said: “He is a very humble, gentle boy and always concentrates on his studies. I firmly believe he simply cannot be involved in any negative activity.” The operation in Britain has been running covertly for several weeks and went public last Wednesday, within hours of Mr Quick’s blunder, with dramatic daylight raids in Manchester, Liverpool and Clitheroe, Lancashire. The remaining 11 detainees, 10 of whom are believed to be Pakistani nationals visiting Britain on student visas, are being questioned at police stations across the North of England. Detectives have been granted a further seven days to detain the suspects, who range in age from 22 to 41. They can be questioned for a maximum of 28 days before they have to be charged or released. The investigation is a joint operation between the North-West Counter-terrorism Unit, Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command and MI5, and involved Merseyside and Lancashire constabularies. The involvement of so many forces is said to have led to infighting and confusion over the command and direction of the inquiry.

Pakistan Key To Afghanistan; While Iran Looks On

Pakistan Key To Afghanistan; While Iran Looks On

(NSI News Source Info) London - February 3, 2009: Peace will only come to Afghanistan if Pakistan can sort out the militants on its side of the border, where US strikes are not helping, the head of Britain's armed forces told The Sunday Times newspaper. Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup said only politics, long term, could bring peace on both sides of the frontier. The chief of the defence staff said that weaknesses in Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government were causing difficulties for the 8,300 British troops battling Taliban insurgents in the troubled south of the country. "The weakness of governance in Afghanistan worries me considerably," Stirrup told the weekly broadsheet. "But governance is not just about what goes on in Kabul. We have to look at the wider picture. "The Taliban movement -- and Taliban is now a catch-all phrase for ideologues, criminals, people with tribal grudges, people who are quite simply guns for hire to keep bread on the table -- is on both sides of the border. "It makes no distinction between one side or the other. Some people move across. Some are based almost exclusively in Pakistan. Some are based exclusively in Afghanistan. "It's impossible to distinguish between those two and actually, in my view, not necessary. The border is not relevant." Stirrup sympathised with the difficulties faced by the Pakistani military, admitting that its success so far had been "limited". "The Pakistan army has a series of very considerable problems," he said, adding it had realised that "the growing insurgency within its own borders is an existential problem for Pakistan." General Ashfaq Kayani, the head of Pakistan's army, "is absolutely clear on the size of the challenge that he faces. "The Pakistan army has become much more sophisticated and much more flexible and adaptable in terms of its approach. "So we have to do all we can to support the military in that shift, but we have to recognise that they can't do it overnight. "Just as in Afghanistan, that kind of insurgency cannot be defeated by conventional military means. It can only be dealt with, in the long term, through politics." He said it was "very important" for the Islamabad government to start changing public sentiment that all would be well if western troops were not in Afghanistan. "While they shouldn't be driven by public opinion, they can't operate in the face of it. The Predator strikes don't help in that regard," he said, referring to US air strikes on the Pakistani side of the border.

India Faces More Terror Attacks: US Study / India will Continue Serious Jihadist Threat From Pakistan-Based Terrorist Groups - Report

India Faces More Terror Attacks: US Study / India will Continue Serious Jihadist Threat From Pakistan-Based Terrorist Groups - Report (NSI News Source Info) New York - January 18, 2009: The Mumbai attack suggests the possibility of an escalating terrorist campaign in South Asia and India can expect more attacks with high body counts and symbolic targets, says a grim study released on Friday by the RAND Corporation, a leading US think-tank. The RAND study, part-funded by the Pentagon, identifies the tactical features of the military-style Mumbai attack plotted way back in 2007, talks about weaknesses in India's counter-terrorism structure and weighs in on the implications for India, Pakistan and the US. "India will continue to face a serious jihadist threat from Pakistan-based terrorist groups, and neither Indian nor US policy is likely to reduce that threat in the near future," said Angel Rabasa, lead author of the study and political scientist with RAND. "Other extremist groups in Pakistan likely will find inspiration in the Mumbai attack, and we can expect more attacks with high body counts and symbolic targets." According to researchers, the selection of multiple targets (Americans, Britons and Jews, as well as Indians) suggests that the terrorists intended the attack to serve "multiple objectives" that extended beyond their previous linear focus on Kashmir. "The goal was not only to slaughter as many people as they could, but to target specific groups of people and facilities with political, cultural and emotional value. This indicates a level of strategic thought -- a strategic culture -- that poses a difficult challenge: not whether we can outgun the terrorists, but can we outthink them?" said Brian Michael Jenkins, a senior advisor at RAND. Former US Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill, Ashley Tellis, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and five other South Asia experts have contributed to the study. India holds Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba responsible for the attacks and is looking for a way to punish Pakistan to deter future attacks. The report acknowledges that both countries have nuclear weapons, making any military action "a dangerous course," but warns that if India does not respond, that "would signal a lack of Indian resolve or capability." "Without an appropriate response, Pakistan, or at least those elements of its military and intelligence leadership that are supportive of the activities of groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, are likely to conclude that these operations, in some measure, yield benefits that exceed the cost," said RAND while releasing the study titled "The Lessons of Mumbai." For these and other reasons, US researchers say, India is likely to remain a target of Pakistan-based and indigenous Islamist terrorism. The US think-tank also says the focus on Pakistan should not obscure the fact that the terrorists likely had help from inside India. "Local radicalization is a major goal of the terrorists, and will be a major political and social challenge for India," it warned.