Former brigadier’s son plotted rocket attacks

Former brigadier’s son plotted rocket attacks

* Three masterminds also include engineer
* Eight men arrested earlier were facilitators
* Al Qaeda literature found in suspects’ car

ISLAMABAD: The son of a retired Pakistani brigadier is among three Al Qaeda-linked “terrorists” arrested for masterminding attempted rocket attacks near the president’s house and parliament, police said on Tuesday.

The suspects were seized on Monday, based on information provided by eight alleged militants detained earlier this month after the three foiled attacks, Islamabad’s Inspector General (IG) of Police Iftikhar Ahmed Chaudhry said.

“They are educated. One of them is son of a retired army brigadier, one of them is an engineer who was technically aware of making circuits,” Chaudhry told AFP. “They are hardcore terrorists.”

Police said they picked up the men - named only as Ali Ahmed, Muneer and Khalil - in the industrial sector of the capital Islamabad when officers intercepted a car. They were still being interrogated.

The trio were the driving force behind the plot and the eight others arrested previously were only facilitators, Senior Superintendent of Police Sikandar Hayat said. “This is the core group. We can call them masterminds,” he said.

The men “appear to be Al Qaeda-linked militants,” Hayat added, echoing earlier comments by President Gen Pervez Musharraf saying that the plot had links to fugitive Osama Bin Laden’s terror network.

“They were inspired by Al Qaeda. They had Al Qaeda literature in their car,” Hayat said without elaborating.

He did not specify which was the brigadier’s son but said Ali likely had a masters degree in engineering.

One rocket exploded late on October 4 in the Ayub public park in Rawalpindi, a garrison city adjoining Islamabad, near military ruler Musharraf’s army residence. Another three were found nearby.

Two more rockets were found close to the official presidency building and parliament in Islamabad on October 5, followed by another two near the Inter Services Intelligence headquarters in the capital two days later.

Militants had planned to launch all of them simultaneously but only the one in Rawalpindi worked, Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao has said. Security forces traced the suspects by decoding mobile phones attached to shells.

Police seized more of the Russian-made rockets plus grenades, explosives and hundreds of sniper rifle rounds at the same time as they detained the initial eight suspects.

Gen Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led “war on terror” who seized power in a coup in 1999, has said that the rockets “maybe” targeted him.

He has escaped at least three serious assassination attempts in the past, two of which were in Rawalpindi, both in December 2003.

In the first, junior Pakistan Air Force personnel with militant links blew up a bridge as his motorcade passed but Musharraf was saved when electronic jamming equipment in his car delayed the blast.

The second attempt on Christmas Day was a suicide attack linked to Al Qaeda that left 14 people dead. afp

Muslim staff in De Gaulle airport fired because they visited Pakistan

Muslim staff in Paris airport row

Four Muslim baggage handlers are appealing against a decision to bar them from working at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

They say that the local government's decision to revoke their security passes is evidence of anti-Muslim discrimination.

A local government spokesman says the decision was based on an assessment of the terrorist risk.

He denied the move was linked to the men's religion.

Passes withdrawn

Lawyers acting for the four men say that dozens of other Muslims who work at the airport have also been stripped of their security passes, leaving them unable to work.

The four men, who are of North African origin, say they were summoned by security officials for interviews concerning their employment in August.

A few days later they were told that their airport passes, which gave them access to the area near runways, were being withdrawn.

Criminal complaint

A lawyer acting for the men said the baggage handlers were told they had been barred because they had "not shown that their behaviour was unlikely to violate airport security".

As well as appealing against the local authority's decision, the baggage handlers' lawyers have submitted a criminal complaint for alleged discrimination against the men on the grounds that they are Muslims.

The head of a local government office, Jacques Lebrot, said the ban had nothing to do with religion.

'Islamic radicals'

"For us, someone who goes on holiday to Pakistan several times raises questions," he told Reuters News Agency.

Mr Lebrot added that the local authority investigation looked for those who could "compromise airport security".

A book published by a far-right politician four months before the security clampdown raised questions about France's airport security.

Philippe de Villiers' book alleged that Islamic radicals worked at Charles de Gaulle airport and were planning terror attacks.

Nato planes violate Pak airspace

Nato planes violate Pak airspace

Bombings of border towns ignite forest fire By Shah Murad Baig CHITRAL: The Afghanistan-based Nato forces on Tuesday violated Pakistan’s airspace and dropped bombs on two border towns of Arandu that caused huge fire in the dense forests of the area. Residents of Chitral’s border town of Arandu informed The News that Nato planes intruded into Pakistani territory from the neighbouring Nooristan province of Afghanistan several times where an operation against al-Qaeda and Taliban has been going on since few days. According to the residents, the Nato aircraft targeted two villages, Daroshot and Azo. There was no casualty but the bombing caused a huge fire in the dense forests of the area. Nazim UC Arandu Sher Muhammad told this scribe that precious forests in the two border villages have been burnt by the fire causing losses of millions of rupees and created panic among the dwellers of the border villages. He demanded of the Pakistan government to lodge a strong protest over its airspace violation by the coalition forces.

Pakistan gave North Korea centrifuges in exchange for missiles

Benazir signed missile deal with N Korea: Newsweek

NEW YORK: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto signed a missile development deal with North Korea after the end of the Cold War, according to American magazine Newsweek. Michael Harness writes that the then prime minister looked to North Korea for missiles because of US sanctions on Pakistan. Under the deal, Pakistan imported Korean missiles, while North Korea received centrifuge technology. Newsweek claims that scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan visited North Korea 13 times, while Korean scientists were given nuclear briefings at Kahuta Research Laboratories. He also cites unnamed Pakistani officials as stating these visits occurred with the full knowledge and consent of the military. daily times monitor

Pakistan gets very little of the promised earthquake donations

Donors’ failure to deliver


DETAILS now made available about the donations that were pledged for earthquake relief and rehabilitation to Pakistan in November last year at the donors’ conference are likely to cause much public concern. It has now been revealed that the sum of $6.7 billion that sixty governments/agencies had said they would give Pakistan as a helping hand was not all in the form of a grant. In fact, most of it — that is, four billion dollars — was meant to be loans, the terms of which have not been disclosed yet. Of the $2.7 billion grant, most of it was spent by various organisations and was not given to the Government of Pakistan at all. Now the most distressing piece of information is that the donors have not disbursed all the loans/grants they had promised. According to one report, only $1.6 billion has actually been handed over to Pakistan. The failure to mobilise funds has been confirmed by the UN humanitarian coordinator who said on Monday that Pakistan’s early recovery plan had a price tag of $255 million and only $161 million was delivered and received.

This does not reflect well on the international community which was expected to show more humanitarian concern for the victims of this terrible natural calamity. Given the heart-warming response of the people and relief agencies not just in Pakistan but all over the world, one had expected the governments to do better. They did show plenty of concern and promised to extend monetary assistance. Regrettably, the concern expressed then has proved to be verbal and the large amounts pledged have not been fully paid. Now we have the prime minister informing us that $600 million worth of aid had to be declined because of unfavourable terms and conditions while $1.4 billion is still under negotiation. Will the conditions attached to this amount get the approval of the Pakistan government? It is not clear how much of the $2 billion that the prime minister says has been negotiated has been delivered. It is disappointing that governments and aid agencies have failed to be generous towards the three-million-plus people who are in dire need of assistance in these testing times when the earthquake destroyed their hearths and homes and left them devastated.

While the approach of the donor governments is not something to be commended, Pakistan too has lost much of its credibility by not ensuring transparency in its earthquake relief and reconstruction operations. Since it did not consider it necessary to take the public into confidence regarding the financial aspect of the massive work undertaken in Azad Kashmir and the NWFP, it lost credibility with the people. No wonder it has come under attack for having failed to fulfil its promises. Even now it is not too late. The government should adopt an open approach and let the people know exactly how much was received in the wake of the earthquake and how much has been spent and in what manner. This is important if it does not want to be charged with corruption. As it is, it does not have a very impressive performance to boast of when it comes to rebuilding infrastructure or developing the housing and social sectors. The worst aspect is financial record-keeping. The government is harming its own cause when it conceals the financial constraints caused by the failure of the donors to deliver on their promises, which is affecting the government’s performance.