Serving brigadier held on suspected links with militants

Brigadier Ali Khan has been held over suspected links with a banned religious outfit.

He was posted at the GHQ when about one and half month ago he went missing without any intimation to the authorities concerned. He had been serving in the Regulation Directorate at the General Headquarters Rawalpindi for two years.

ISPR Chief Major General Athar Abbas confirmed to a UK TV channel about the arrest. He further confirmed that an investigation is going on about Brig Ali Khan’s suspected links with a banned religious outfit but details of the probe could not be made public right now.

According to the sources close to the family of the accused he did not return home on the evening of May 6. On families queries it was told that Brig Ali Khan has been detained for questioning and he would be back home soon.

The military leadership was said to be concerned about the allegations against a brigadier whose three generations had remained loyal to the Pakistan Army. The matter reportedly was also discussed with Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

An officer serving on a top position said on the condition of anonymity that so far the brigadier had not been charge-sheeted. However, the Special Investigation Branch of the Pakistan Army is investigating the matter. The family of the brigadier is refraining from making any public statement or moving the court. They hope that the officer would be cleared very soon. In view of the protracted affiliation of the family of the officer with the Army, the COAS has personally ordered the inquiry into the allegations and detention of the brigadier, said an officer privy to the development. GO TO SOURCE

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Islamabad:  Authorities detained a senior officer serving at Pakistani army headquarters for suspected links with a banned militant group, the army spokesman said Tuesday. The announcement could be an attempt by the military to counter Western suspicions that it tolerates militant sympathizers within its ranks.



Western officials have long suspected some Pakistani military officials, especially ones serving in the army's powerful intelligence agency, of maintaining ties with militant groups like the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Those suspicions have spiked in the wake of last month's U.S. raid that killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in an army town not far from the Pakistani capital.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said Brig. Ali Khan was detained recently for suspected links with Hizb-ut-Tahrir, which he labeled a "proscribed militant organization."

The group itself has officially rejected violence, but many observers say it promotes an intolerant mindset that can ultimately lead to it.

Abbas said the detention shows the army is determined to weed out bad actors, but also stressed that Khan was not linked to the Taliban, which is seen as much more of a threat by the West than Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

"We follow a zero percent tolerance for any breach of discipline or indulgence in any illegal activity," Abbas told The Associated Press.

Khan's wife denied the allegations against her husband, saying he was "totally innocent."

"These allegations are totally rubbish," she told the AP. She declined to give her first name because of cultural traditions among her Pashtun clan.

She said her husband went missing on May 5, and she has been searching for information about his whereabouts since then. Authorities had assured her that he would soon return, she said.

She said her father-in-law served in the army as a junior commissioned officer, while her son and son-in-law were currently serving in the army. "Our three generations have served the army, and none of our family members have any links with the militants," she said. Hizb-ut-Tahrir is an international Islamist organization dedicated to the notion of reviving the Islamic caliphate and unifying Muslim countries under the laws of the religion. Although it's banned in some countries, including Pakistan and parts of Central Asia, the group is active in Western countries such as the United States, where it finds protection under free speech and association laws.

Hizb-ut-Tahrir officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Western officials have long worried about Islamist extremism within Pakistan's security forces given historical ties to militant groups that have fought in Afghanistan and Indian-held Kashmir. And although analysts say the army is better than the police at rooting out extremists, current and former military officers have participated in attacks in recent years. The army conducts regular psychological examinations of its officers, according to Shuja Nawaz, a Pakistan defense analyst. Still, the system isn't perfect, especially considering army soldiers are recruited from a general population that itself has grown more religiously conservative over the last 30 years. Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American who tried to bomb New York City's Times Square last year, allegedly was in contact with a major in the Pakistani military. In 2009, Pakistani army headquarters in Rawalpindi was attacked by 10 men in military uniforms reportedly led by a former army soldier. And the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India, are alleged to have been carried out with the guidance of a Pakistani spy known only as "Major Iqbal."

One constant fear is that extremists in the military could somehow infiltrate Pakistan's nuclear program to steal materials for a terrorist weapon, but that program is governed by a multilayered security system that involves scrutiny of individuals' backgrounds and beliefs. NDTV

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