Terror spotlight on Pakistan

2005-07-15 14:51

Islamabad - The London bombings have thrown the terror spotlight back on Pakistan, where Islamic militants continue to thrive despite a massive crackdown on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Analysts say extremism is alive and well in Pakistan and reports that three of last week's suicide bombers were British Muslims of Pakistani origin have not surprised security officials.

Pakistan has been at the heart of the "war on terror" since the September 11 2001 attacks on the United States and President Pervez Musharraf's decision to abandon Pakistan's support for Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.

"Pakistan has arrested more than 90% of the al-Qaeda terrorists arrested worldwide and surely hundreds more are hiding here," an Islamabad-based senior security official said.

Lawless tribal areas

In 2002 Pakistan moved tens of thousands of troops into the lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, driving militants who had fled there after the US-led ouster of the Taliban into Pakistan's teeming cities.

Among the major scalps claimed by Pakistan was that of Kuwaiti Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of 9/11 and al-Qaeda number three, arrested in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, in 2003.

His alleged successor, Libyan Abu Faraj Al-Libbi was picked up in Mardan, northwestern Pakistan in May this year.

And in 2004, Tanzanian Ahmad Khalfan Ghailani, linked to the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in east Africa, was captured in central Gujrat city. A week before his arrest security agents also seized Pakistani al-Qaeda computer expert Naeem Noor Khan.

Information gleaned from the pair's e-mails and computer records led to a worldwide terror alert and was described as a biggest coup against al-Qaeda since 9/11 attacks.

It also resulted in the arrests of top al-Qaeda suspects in Britain.

But for all its successes, Pakistan has been unable to completely root out the menace of al-Qaeda.

Analysts say militancy has survived the loss of official patronage and the Musharraf-led crackdown.

Most of the militants involved in the big recent terror attacks have passed through training camps in Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan.

The problem dates back to Pakistan's status as the springboard for the 1979-89 "jihad" or holy war fight against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Thousands of camps and hideouts were set up in Pakistan, sanctioned by Islamist dictator Zia-ul Hag and backed by the US Central Intelligence Agency and the military to train Islamic warriors to fight the Russians.

"This is the legacy of West-sponsored jihad against the Soviets and we are paying the price for having patronised jihad as a state policy for quarter of a century," a senior police official involved in the anti-terror campaign told AFP.

"Still Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only two places where Islamic militants can go and get motivation and sometime training," he said.

- AFP