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Pakistan
at odds over student arrests
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - In an operation that is increasingly beginning to look like an
excerpt from 1001 Arabian Nights, Pakistani authorities on Tuesday
rounded up a further four Indonesian students studying in Karachi, claiming
that they are a part of a sleeper cell of Jemaah Islamiya (JI), a Southeast
Asian terror organization.
 On
the weekend, authorities detained 13 Malaysians, two Indonesians and two
Myanmar nationals, including Gun Gun Rusman Gunawan, the 27-year-old brother of
JI leader Hambali, who was arrested in Thailand last month and handed over to
US authorities on suspicion of masterminding bombings in Southeast Asia and of
being al-Qaeda's key regional contact.
From the outset of the arrests in Pakistan, Pakistani officials have made a
series of contradictory statements, with various organizations and ministries
seemingly falling over themselves to counter one another at every turn.
This has led to much speculation as to the real motives behind the swoops,
which involve students from two academic institutions of Salafi origins in
Karachi - Jamia Abu Bakar Islamic University in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal area, and
Jamia tut Darasatul Islamyia, on University Road.
In the broader context, the arrests can be seen as a continuation of the US-led
"war on terrorism", of which Pakistan under President General Pervez Musharraf
is an integral part. It is therefore unlikely to be a coincidence that
Musharraf is currently in the United States, as he obviously wants to be seen
to be doing the right thing as far as his hosts are concerned.
But first, let's look at how events have unfolded. At the time of the arrests,
the official word - initially deliberately leaked - was that the students were
wanted in their countries of origin, and they would be extradited. This line
was duly published in most newspapers.
However, in the case of the Indonesians, the Jakarta government was quick to
protest in a formal manner to the Pakistani government that its students were
certainly not on any wanted list. And in the case of Gun Gun, it transpired
that he had in fact been arrested well before the weekend, but he was lumped
together with the other "suspects".
Other claims then followed, such as the students being rounded up for
overstaying their visas, or "for involvement in activities seen as prejudicial
to the interests of Pakistan". These charges, too, were quickly denied,
certainly in the case of the Indonesians, by Indonesian Embassy officials who
repeated that the students were "clean".
In the case of Gun Gun, the Pakistani authorities then came up with the
argument that he had in fact been given permission to study at the Islamic
University Islamabad (in 1999), but he instead illegally entered the Abu Bakar
Islamic University Karachi. But this, too, is a baseless charge, as he was
issued a no objection certificate (NOC) from both his consulate in Karachi and
Pakistani security officials to the change.
Then on Wednesday, the Pakistani interior minister came up with yet another
story, suggesting a link between the arrests and a terror sleeper cell in
Karachi. Pakistani intelligence, it was maintained, had evidence of
communication between Gun Gun and his brother Hambali from 1999-2003. And, they
say, Gun Gun provided them with the names of the other members, who were "his
close friends on campus".
Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema, chief of the Interior Ministry's Crisis
Management Cell, said Hambali's brother was an important link in a suspected
terror network. "They are being interrogated by our security officials," he
said. "They will be deported to their countries in a week to 10 days."
Asia Times Online was able to obtain copies of Gun Gun's file. It clearly shows
that the Pakistani and Indonesian authorities had over the past three years
consistently given him a clean bill of health.
After disseminating many stories about al-Qaeda sleeper cells in Karachi, both
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and the US Central Intelligence Agency
acknowledge now that Karachi has always served as a transitory port for
al-Qaeda operators, and that they are not active on any permanent basis. (There
was a very distant al-Qaeda link in the case of slain US journalist Daniel
Pearl.)
Gun Gun had been studying in Karachi since 1999, but because of looser rules no
Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) data are available on him up to July 2001,
at which time the Pakistani government introduced stricter rules for foreign
students. From that time, he features in FIA records. His file shows:
The Indonesian Consulate in Karachi issued him an NOC on September 10, 2001, to
study (Letter No 135/kono/IX/2001). This was issued by Vice Consul Iswayudha.
The NOC was for the change of admission from Islamic University Islamabad to
Abu Bakar Islamic University Karachi. The Ministry of Education was informed
about the development. Another NOC was issued by the Indonesian Consulate in
Karachi, issued by Vice Consul Iswayudha, on December 13, 2001 (Reference
182/kons/XII/2001).
The Ministry of Education issued an NOC reference number F-4-1/2002-1-C V dated
February 18, 2002. In the light of all these developments, the Ministry of the
Interior also issued him an NOC (Reference No 9/36/01-Poll E (1), dated March
26, 2002).
His visa was extended by the Ministry of the Interior until March 31, 2003
(Reference Letter No 9/36/01 Poll E (1) 2002).
On February 26 this year, the Ministry of the Interior gave Gun Gun another
extension to March 31, 2004 (Reference letter no9/36/01-Poll. E (1) 1851). The
visa number was 1119/03, issued on March 5, 2003, from Karachi.
In each case, the letters issued, especially those by the Ministry of the
Interior, require many inquiries and investigations, ranging from the police to
the Intelligence Bureau, the FIA and immigration. These confirm that a person
is not wanted by Interpol, for example, or suspected of any illegal activities
in Pakistan. Only then is an NOC issued.
Yet Gun Gun and some of his "close friends" now find themselves in detention.
(Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact
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