VIJAY K. SAZAWAL
The 'Self-Governance' Bogey
If General Musharraf's model is Northern Areas or even 'Azad Jammu & Kashmir', I think he ought to first check with Pakistan's own Supreme Court to learn the lack of self-governance in those regions of Kashmir.
ZAFAR H. ANJUM
But What Do They Preach?
The Tablighi Jamaat is once again in sharp focus: is it the recruiting ground for wannabe Islamic terrorists? Or is it, as it claims, completely apolitical and law abiding? No matter what, it would have to remain under the scanner...
URI AVNERY
The 155th Victim
Every one of the 154 Israeli dead of Lebanon War II (until the cease-fire) died for the settlers on the Golan Heights. The 155th Israeli victim of this war is the "Covergence Plan" - the plan for a unilateral withdrawal from parts of the West Bank.
B. RAMAN
Their Man In Islamabad
It is difficult not to be reminded of the MI-6's Man in Havana as one watches with amazement the encomiums being showered on Gen Musharraf as a stalwart ally in the war against terrorism by Bush and Blair
B. RAMAN
Their Man In Sri Lanka
The new Pakistan envoy to Colombo is their Deputy Chief of Air Staff (Operations), who handled the air-mounted operations against the Baloch freedom fighters in Balochistan.
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Speak up! Express yourself in our free- wheeling discussions or start those of your own. |
USA:
Our new neighbour?
USA:
The International Terrorist? Or do you justify the recent bombing of Iraq?
Modi Visa:
The controversy over US denial
China:
Are the border problems of our own making?
Feroze Khan:
Banned by Musharraf!
Nepal:
Time to go back to Gujral doctrine of disproportionate reciprocity?
Indo-Pak:
Time for third party mediation?
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| ...and more |
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| TERROR IN THE AIR |
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The Great Britain Bust
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| Whether or not there was an actual plan of attack, British Muslims stand convicted for perceived intention Updates |
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| | SANJAY SURI | | |
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Who can remember the last time when something that did not happen made news quite like this? A conspiracy cracked, a plot uncovered, hundreds, thousands of lives saved, came the announcements. So, the biggest story of the year was one that did not happen. The news was what might have been, or at least what the British police and ministers declared might have been.
The 'bigness' of the story lay in government reaction to its information: the cancellation and diversion of hundreds of flights. The greater the disruption at airports, the bigger sounded the plot to blow up 10 aircraft—or five, or 20, as various reports suggested—on way from London or Gatwick airports to US destinations. | | |  | |  | | Disrupted traffic, apocalypse talk made dire scenarios seem actual. | |  | |  | |
| | That disruption blended with dramatic talk of "apocalyptic" plans for "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" to project dire scenarios as almost actual.
The fact is, more than a week after the arrests, the police |
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have not found any of the liquid explosive that was to have blown up the aircraft. None of the 24 arrested had bought air tickets, nor have the police found any sign that they had planned to buy them on lastminute.com. A week of investigation has mostly produced only a globally orchestrated allegation. The fact that stood out is the extent to which people are prepared to believe what some Muslims might get up to; the suspicion itself stood as fact. The police have been given a second week in a maximum of four, to question the suspects in detention. The evidence is being searched now; it wasn't in hand before the arrests were made.
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| Video grab of a man said to be Tayib Rauf, brother of the man who apparently spilled the beans in custody |
This in itself does not mean that there was no conspiracy building up. Interrogation backed by information supplied could yet reveal evidence of a sinister plot. Going by methodically-leaked police information, this group of arrested Muslims had been under watch for more than a year, among at least a thousand other British Muslims since the July 7 bombings of last year. An infiltrator apparently warned the police soon after 7/7 of plans to blow up aircraft. The arrests have now given a new twist to the investigation.
Inevitably, those placed under watch were almost all Pakistanis, including just about any young male travelling between Britain and Pakistan. Among them, Rashid Rauf, 25, from Birmingham, arrested in Pakistan end July. On the advice of British intelligence, according to some leaks; against it, say others. But the arrest certainly seems to have brought forward police plans to swoop down on the group he and his brother Tayib had been in contact with—Tayib was among the 24 arrested.
The first visible sign of government action was the summons to British transport minister Douglas Alexander on Monday, August 7. An air force helicopter brought him back to London from vacation on a Scottish island. The arrests began Wednesday night. But in between, on Tuesday, Prime Minister Tony Blair took off for his vacation in Barbados. On August 13, he was said to have briefed US President George Bush, on his vacation in Texas. Either Blair had seen no imminent threat, or he's just very good at delegating. About this biggest action in what we know is the biggest threat to Britain since World War II, call me at the beach, guys.
On August 9 evening, the government security system got to work, led by Cobra, the top security decision-making group comprising ministers, the police and intelligence. |
| The Plot
10 steps to terror undone: How London claims it scuttled the plan | | Just A Bag, No Vanity
Tipped off trouble, airports are firming up as virtual bulwarks | | The Call Of The Camps
Pakistan's expat citizens are triggers in most terror plots now. What is it about them and global jehad? There are no easy answers. | | Helping Hands Could Sting Too
Did quake relief efforts in PoK help members of UK charities bond with terror groups? And have relief funds been diverted to the latter? | | Tunnel Vision
Sadly, the US and UK still gloss over terrorist attacks in India | | Qaeda Is Hiring
Local terror outfits get an Al Qaeda connection, look to go global | |
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