Times of India : Key accused in UK plot are Kashmiris

Key accused in UK plot are Kashmiris

Rashmee Roshan Lall | August 15, 2006

LONDON: British security services are exploring a possible Kashmir connection to Black Thursday's multi-handed alleged terrorist conspiracy now that the two brothers reportedly at the centre of the maelstrom are revealed as ethnic Kashmiris with roots in POK.

Rashid Rauf, one of the key suspects in the plot, who was arrested in a yet-unverifiable location in Pakistan on an as yet unverifiable date, and his brother Tayib Rauf, are thought to be at the centre of the dangerously-overarching plot to target Britain's air and sea links, along with its key facilities.

The brothers' Kashmiri origins and allegedly burning anger over the Kashmir issue is thought to provide a grim sub-continental context to a plot that appeared to target only the UK and US.

Both the Rauf brothers belong to Birmingham in the English Midlands. Sources told TOI on Monday the Birmingham link to Kashmir-inspired terrorism is hardly surprising because the city is home to several hundred-thousand Mirpuri Muslims.

Some years ago, recalled the sources, a Birmingham lad with the nom de guerre Abdullah Bai, blew himself up in central Srinagar in the first instance of British-born-and-bred jehadi terrorism.

At the time, the sources said, British security and intelligence services failed to appreciate the significance of Bai's action and its portents for the future of Britain's large and disaffected Muslim community.

Just days ago, British Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted the West had been tardy and woefully slow to realise that Kashmiri and Chechen terrorism belonged to the same Islamo-fascist ideology that led Al Qaida to attack the West.

According to reports, the Rauf brothers may represent the delayed crystallisation of Bai's long-ago lonestar jihadi act.

Sources say the brothers and many of the other British Pakistanis arrested for alleged involvement in Black Thursday's multi-handed plot may have been radicalised during and after last year's devastating earthquake in Kashmir.

At the time, hundreds of British Kashmiris are known to have travelled to POK to help with the relief effort even as the Pakistani army and authorities were draing sustained criticism for their lack of readinessto help the hundreds of thousands of displaced and badly earthquake-affected people.

Sources say that the British Kashmiri youths had consequently come into direct contact with Kashmiri militants because it was the jihadists who provided prompt and targeted relief to the afflicted just hours after the quake hit.

Rashid Rauf, who was arrested in Pakistan and named soon after, is thought to be linked to Lashkae-e Taiba though there have also been other conflicting reports that he owes allegiance to either Jaish-e Mohammed or Lashkar-e Jhangvi.