Pakistan's double win over
terror By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - Pakistani intelligence agencies
and jihadist circles are unanimous that the
Pakistanis arrested last week in connection with
the thwarted terror attacks on at least 10
aircraft flying from London had been penetrated by
Pakistani intelligence since late last year.
However, there are contradictory opinions
about the ultimate Pakistani intelligence
objectives.
At least seven people were
arrested in connection with the plot in the cities
of Lahore and Karachi last week. Officials claim
they provided important information about the
plot. British security officials have detained 24
people - most of Pakistani origin - over
the
apparent plan to attack planes flying from the
United Kingdom to the United States.
A
senior Pakistani security official told Asia Times
Online, "The real episode started after the
earthquake in [Pakistan-administered] Kashmir in
October 2005. Various Islamic charities were
active to provide relief to the displaced
Kashmiris. The US CIA [Central Intelligence
Agency] and British MI6 [Security Intelligence
Service] contacted Pakistan and warned that under
the cover of relief money, funds could possibly be
transmitted to terror rings in Pakistan.
"MI6, the CIA and a special Pakistani
intelligence cell coordinated investigations on
the fund transfers. During those investigations,
many people were rounded up in Pakistan."
This is where different opinions emerge,
however. Pakistani officials have arrested Rashid
Rauf (a British national) as a key suspect in the
foiled terror plot and have accused him of being
linked with al-Qaeda.
Contacts with close
knowledge of the arrested men - in the earlier
swoops as well as in the wake of the foiled plot -
claim that none of them had links with al-Qaeda.
Rather, they claim, they were linked with
al-Muhajiroun and Hizbut Tehrir.
Hizbut
Tehrir (Liberation Party) is a non-violent
organization founded in the early 1950s in Jordan
for the liberation of Palestine. Its ultimate aim
is the revival of the caliphate, which it tries to
bring about by toppling what it sees as corrupt
Islamic governments.
Pakistan has been
particularly hard on the group, most of whose
members are British-born Pakistanis sent to work
in Pakistan. The most apparent reason is these
youths want to stage a coup against the government
of President General Pervez Musharraf and
infiltrate institutions such as the army.
Muhajiroun is a breakaway faction of
Hizbut Tehrir. Most of its members are in the UK.
Famous Egyptian scholar Omar al-Bakri was its
leader. Muhajiroun was banned in the UK last year
after its praise of the attacks on the London
Underground.
A contact from among the
senior levels of the jihadist cadre told Asia
Times Online, "Boys from organizations like
al-Muhajiroun and Hizbut Tehrir come to Pakistan
from the UK and have nothing to do with al-Qaeda.
They are British-born Pakistanis and are
interested in [fomenting] a coup in Pakistan. A
few of them have been arrested in the past in
Islamabad while distributing pamphlets, and then
released. I can tell you with surety that the boys
[recently] arrested in Pakistan have long been
identified by the Pakistani establishment.
"Their fate started when they interacted
with a few officials of the Pakistani army. This
they were very keen to penetrate to stage a coup,
therefore they were close to a few army officers.
They were delighted that they had penetrated into
the army, but in fact Pakistani intelligence -
coming from a strong military background -
penetrated deep into them," said the jihadi.
"Those youths, in their 20s and completely
unaware of Pakistani society, were very thrilled
with their success and even shared their views
with people in Islamabad, saying that many
officers had agreed to a coup. In fact, we warned
them that military officials were only loyal to
their job and they would not be committed to any
revolutionary cause.
"The youths from
Muhajiroun did not agree, and continued to meet
with intelligence operators, whom they thought
were military officials of the Pakistan army," the
jihadi said.
"The closeness of the
Pakistani intelligence with some boys with a
Muhajiroun background was a known fact, but at
what stage it turned out to be their 'London
terror plot', we are completely in the dark.
"However, I safely make a conjecture that
those highly motivated boys were exploited by
agents provocateurs. A religious Muslim
youth in his early 20s is undoubtedly full of
hatred against the US, and if somebody would guide
them to carry out any attack on US interests,
there would be a strong chance that they would go
for that.
"And I think this is exactly
what happened. The government of Pakistan has been
seriously trying to cleanse groups like Muhajiroun
and Hizbut Tehrir from Pakistan, as well as from
the UK. Both groups are fiercely
anti-establishment and serious about staging a
coup in Pakistan and were enhancing their
influence among youths in cities like Lahore and
Islamabad. So they were basically trapped," the
jihadi said.
It should be remembered that
Hizbut Tehrir and Muhajiroun were banned in
Pakistan after the September 11, 2001, attacks on
the US and all police stations have strict
instructions to arrest any person claiming to be
the member of the groups.
In the recent
past, Pakistani authorities have been arresting
members of both organizations under anti-terrorism
laws. However, the courts have been releasing them
on the basis of insufficient evidence.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia
Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He can be
reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.
(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
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