How Britain helps Islamic militants’ recruitment drive

 ‘Islamic Terrorism’ receives consistent support from the West

A terror “plot” that wasn’t?

Hasan Suroor

Thanks to the police, we have another “alienated” young Muslim out there. Which is exactly what the extremists need.

Last week’s dramatic anti-terror raids in north-west England in which nearly a dozen Pakistani nationals, living in Britain on student visas, were arrested for allegedly plotting what Prime Minister Gordon Brown breathlessly described as a “very big” attack was — it now increasingly appears — prompted by half-baked intelligence based on “fragments” of chatter and some intercepts.

Other so-called “leads” included sightings of some of the alleged suspects taking photographs of a fashionable shopping centre and a popular nightclub in Manchester. They were also apparently overheard discussing certain dates that led the MI5 sleuths to jump to the conclusion that not only an attack was being planned but that it was “imminent”— and indeed even dates had been settled.

The media quoted anonymous “sources” as saying that a “devastating” attack might have been planned for the Easter weekend. One newspaper dubbed it an “Easter spectacular.”

Yet, no hard evidence has surfaced so far despite extensive searches and there is a growing sense that it could all end up in a wild-goose chase. The much-talked about “bomb factory” where, it was claimed, the Pakistanis were assembling explosives remains elusive; and the computers seized from their homes have failed to yield anything incriminating until now.

Police sources are quoted as saying that “nothing of huge significance” has been found.

“There is lots of material that when put together may take us somewhere. It will be a long and drawn out investigation,” one source told a Sunday newspaper.

The Times claimed that there was already talk of deporting the detainees back to Pakistan as chances of charging them appeared to recede. It also reported “terrible infighting” among the different security forces as to who was to blame for the botched operation.

So, what went wrong?

One theory being touted is that the investigations are still in an early stage and something could yet turn up. But the problem is that the police cannot hold the alleged suspects indefinitely in the hope that they might stumble on something at some stage. The maximum period for which a person can be held without charge is 28 days after which they must either be charged or released. And the time is running out.

Another explanation for the failure to find any evidence is that the raids were conducted prematurely. The raids had to be brought forward after a senior police officer Bob Quick, who has since resigned, was photographed openly carrying a confidential document containing details of the operation. As the exposure of those details threatened to compromise the operation the police decided to move in immediately.

But, frankly, that’s being disingenuous. The fact is that the operation was advanced only by a few hours. Originally, the raids were to have taken place on Thursday morning but were brought forward to Wednesday afternoon after Mr. Quick’s blunder.

At the time, the BBC reported security sources as saying that the plot was in its “final stages.” Indeed, as mentioned earlier, the buzz was that the bombs were all primed to go off at the Easter weekend.

But, then, we have been here before and, as The Observer’s security analyst Jason Burke recalled, there were the “ricin ‘plot’ raids which found no ricin; or the ‘airline plot’ raid, which a jury decided last year, did not feature any airlines; or the ‘cyanide on the tube’ plots, which involved neither cyanide nor the tube...”

So, there is a history of terror “plots” turning out to be, in Mr. Jason’s words, “bunkum.”

Conspiracy theorists see a “pattern” in hyped-up terror raids on Muslim homes every few months and the alacrity with which the identities of the alleged suspects are leaked to the media although the law forbids disclosure of names and nationality until a person is formally charged with a crime.

Questions have also been raised about Mr. Brown’s intervention, blaming Pakistan in rather strong words, even as the investigations had just begun. His remarks that Pakistan was not doing enough to tackle terrorism sparked a diplomatic row as Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the U.K. Wajid Shamsul Hasan pointed out that all applicants for student visas were vetted by the British High Commission and the Pakistan government had nothing to do with it.

Mr. Hasan said Britain needed to improve its own vetting system instead of blaming Pakistan.

“It’s at your end, you have to do something more ....If [the U.K. government] allow us to make inquiries first, if they ask us to scrutinise those people who are seeking visas, we can help them. But the thing is they have their own regime,” he said.

Meanwhile, two of those detained have already been released. Among them is Muhammad Adil, a 27-year-old Pakistani student of John Moores University in Liverpool, who has given a harrowing account of how he was arrested while he was chatting to a friend outside the university building.

Adil said officers with machine guns told him to put his hands up, grabbed his wrists and tied his hands behind his back while pointing guns at him. They told him he was being arrested as a terror suspect. He was taken to police station where he was kept for several hours before being released.

Adil, who came to Britain two years ago, said his experience had changed his view of Britain.

“They are clearly identifying Muslim students. It’s a big insult…The first thing I will do is leave this country as soon as possible,” he told The Guardian.

So, thanks to the police, we have another “alienated” young Muslim out there. Which is exactly what the extremists need.

Source: The Hindu, New Delhi

 

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