Web India : Rashid Rauf's arrest started anti-terror operation

Rashid Rauf's arrest started anti-terror operation

London | August 12, 2006 8:37:03 PM IST

The entire anti-terror operation of Thursday was triggered off following the arrest of a British man in Pakistan.

Rashid Rauf, was described by Pakistani officials as having links to al-Qaeda and of being a key planner in the alleged plot.

One of those arrested in Birmingham was Rauf's brother, Tayib.

Rauf is believed to be wanted for questioning by West Midlands police investigating the murder of his uncle Mohammed saeed, 54, in Birmingham in 2002.

Rauf is understood to have left his home in Birmingham following the stabbing of Saeed, near his home in Alum Rock in April 2002. The arrests in Pakistan are thought to have triggered the decision to move against suspected plotters in Britain, who had been watched since December last.

Security officials played down suggestions of ''puppet masters'' in Pakistan, saying that the plot was largely based in Britain.

However, they have acknowledged a Pakistani connection.

Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday telephoned President Pervez Musharraf and thanked him for Pakistan's ''valuable'' help.

The Telegraph reported that a Pakistani security official said Rauf's frequent use of text messages to Britain was the reason for his arrest outside an internet shop in Zhob, in the border region of Balochistan. He will be questioned to establish whether there was anything sinister in the communications, and other arrests are expected.

The Pakistan Foreign Ministry statement also said there were indications of Afghanistan-based al-Qa'eda connections in the case, but did not elaborate.

An official said the five Pakistanis arrested were believed to have been helping as ''facilitators'' and were held a week ago. Some of them were said to be linked to the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group that has been held responsible for the December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament and is suspected over the kidnapping and murder of the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

It is believed that acting on information supplied by the British, Pakistani police made several arrests which supplied information that led to the arrest of the alleged plotters.

According to several unconfirmed reports yesterday, both the Lahore and Karachi arrests were of Britons who were involved in planning the alleged bombings. The five other arrests were of Pakistanis suspected of being part of a support network.

An Islamic militant ­ said by Pakistani sources to be of Uzbek origin ­ who was captured on the border with Afghanistan several weeks ago, also supplied information which helped uncover the alleged plot. Uzbek militants fought alongside al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and many are still in the border region.

Another arrest is believed to have taken place in Faisalabad several days ago which uncovered significant information, although the arrest was not directly linked to it.

There are rumours that some of those arrested in Britain may have visited Pakistan last year, possibly in the aftermath of the Kashmir earthquake, when large numbers of British Asians travelled to the region to help the relief effort.

Given that most of the men arrested are of Pakistani descent, a leader in The Times today said, ''The fanaticism, extremist groups and religious tensions that have made Pakistan such an unstable and fractured society have influenced radicals in London, Birmingham and, probably, numerous other parts of Britain.'' The ISI is said to have warned MI6 of the involvement of Lashkar-E-Taiba, a militant group with close links to al-Qaeda, which has been blamed for many terrorist acts in Kashmir and, more recently, for the Bombay train bombings.

''Indeed, it was only after the Pakistanis had produced evidence that militants were planning a spectacular atrocity that British Intelligence understood the dimensions of the plot,'' said The Times.

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