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Tuesday,
January 8, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Sept attacks ‘were funded from Pak, UAE’ Move on madarsas may recoil on Musharraf
Shanghai Six for end to narco-terrorism |
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Pakistan wants role in rebuilding Afghanistan BUT for the capture, dead or alive, of Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden and his host in Afghanistan Mullah Mohammad Omar, the operation launched by the US-led international coalition against global terrorism has all but ended in this country.
Teen pilot had
sympathy for Laden |
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Ultras
wanted ‘to hit US Embassy’ 1500 evacuated from Sydney areas
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Sept attacks ‘were funded from Pak, UAE’ Washington, January 7 The officials were quoted by The Washington Post as saying that the financial systems of these countries were used to funnel money to accounts controlled by suspected ringleader Mohammad Atta and the other 18 or 19 hijackers. The investigators came to this conclusion after accounting for more than $ 325,000 spent on the worst ever terrorist attack in US history. The findings by investigators at the Treasury Department, Justice Department, FBI and other federal agencies mark the end of the first phase of the US government’s exhaustive effort to chronicle the financial backing for the attacks. The authorities, who are winding down their investigation, have traced the money trail through credit card receipts, ATM withdrawals and other transactions connected to the 19 suspected hijackers and believe the rest of the expenditure for the $ 500,000 operation was made in cash. The central figure has been identified by US prosecutors as Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, who uses numerous aliases and is believed to have disappeared in Karachi just before the attacks. Hawsawi, who many investigators believe is Al-Qaida’s finance chief, allegedly transferred most of the money used to pay for the hijackers’ pilot training, living expenses and airline tickets in the USA. Although the broad outlines of the money trail were clear within weeks of the attacks, investigators say it has taken months of painstaking analysis and interviews to flesh out the details. They are still working with foreign intelligence and police agencies to assemble a clearer portrait of the early stages of the plot’s financing. “In terms of a more global investigation, and putting together a more comprehensive profile of what happened in Germany and elsewhere. We’re just getting started,” according to a senior Justice Department official. Using supercomputers and the help of financial analyst teams, US officials have discerned a number of important patterns in hijacker spending within the USA that could provide warning signs of the terrorist plots, officials said. The probe has confirmed investigators’ early belief that the financing of the hijackings was remarkably disciplined and well organised, officials said. It relied largely on a steady influx of money through wire transfers from foreign bank accounts tied to Osama bin Laden’s associates. Investigators are still uncertain about the origins of the 500,000 dollars used in the
Sept 11 attacks, but us intelligence officials say Al-Qaida had raised money through means as varied as credit card fraud, diamond trafficking and the sale of honey. PTI |
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Move on madarsas may recoil on Musharraf Washington, January 7 The Brookings Institution says in a new study that the threat arises from the fact that several officers of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) were recruited from the madarsas, or Islamic religious schools. In its move to demolish the global terrorist network, the Bush administration’s most direct approach would be to lobby the Pakistani government to close the madarsas linked to propagating violence, the study says. The paper entitled “Pakistan’s Madarsas: Ensuring a system of education not Jehad” has been authored by P.W. Singer, a foreign policy studies fellow. It says the centre of American concern is not with madarsas in general, but only the most extreme 10-15 per cent, and shutting them down would not undermine the entire education system. But “this option is a non-starter,” maintains Singer, because “even if the Pakistani Government was willing to make such an aggressive step at this time of tension, any such direct move against the schools could potentially backfire and hasten the collapse of the Pakistani state.” Singer says the religious factions in Pakistan “would obviously see the U.S. as behind the effort and may attempt to use it as the catalyst for a holy war that would risk toppling the existing regime.” Singer also points out that the Pakistani army’s willingness to support steps against these madarsas was questionable. Even if ordered by senior leadership (who tend to have been trained at foreign and/or private schools), its line troops could balk at the orders to crush protests, Singer says. “Moreover, at least a small number of the ISI officers were recruited from the madarsas, particularly in the period of 1990-93. Any direct operation against the schools themselves could undermine the military’s unity and, hence, its role as a bulwark of the secular Pakistani state. Thus, the most direct approach against the schools would ironically enough realise the radicals’ own goals of tearing Pakistan apart in violence,” he asserts. While the tradition of madarsas is 1,000 years old, these increased in Pakistan in large numbers in the last two decades, and from just a few hundred, they increased to some 45,000 in the past 20 years, he points out. Becoming the solace of the poor in Pakistan, with the elite sending their children to private schools, the madarsas grew into a parallel state system. And about 10 to 15 per cent of them turned radical advocating a distorted Islam of hatred and violence that has spread its net around the world. And “such radicalised schools were originally allowed to flourish by the government because the militant groups were seen to serve Pakistani interests in Kashmir and Afghanistan.” Pakistani students “are regularly sent abroad to serve in conflicts in Kashmir, Afghanistan, Chechnya, and a number of other wars decided by the school leaders to be part of jehad. Their influence at both the strategic and tactical level in these wars should not be understated,” he maintains. “Their role in supporting groups fighting India over Kashmir, including those thought responsible for the recent Parliament attack, has raised tensions between the two nuclear powers to dangerous levels,” the Brookings paper points out.
IANS |
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Shanghai Six for end to narco-terrorism Beijing, January 7 The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation also hailed the demise of the Taliban regime, hoping it would end Afghanistan’s days as a source of terror and narcotics, and stressed there should be no meddling in the country’s affairs. Analysts said the group, which includes Tajikistan, Kyrgzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, unveiled few major initiatives and largely extended counter-terror measures agreed when it last met six months ago in Shanghai. The six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation asked India and Pakistan to exercise restraint and resume political dialogue to settle their differences. Condemning terrorism in all its forms, Foreign Ministers from the SCO members, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, who met here for a meeting, asked India and Pakistan to de-escalate tensions and make joint efforts to fight global terrorism. The organisation, spearheaded by China as a means of boosting its strategic influence over oil-rich Central Asia, has become a junior partner in the U.S.-led war against terror, they said. Still, analysts said the group, which began cracking down on regional terrorism two years ahead of the September 11 attacks on the USA, could eventually emerge from the shadows once the U.S. military action winds down in Afghanistan. Meeting for the first time since the former Shanghai Five welcomed Uzbekistan last June and renamed itself, the ministers also established a crisis-response mechanism under which they would meet to coordinate positions and consider joint action. China’s Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan stressed the group members backed each other’s fight against terrorism, and called for international support for their own campaigns. China has backed the U.S.-led war on terrorism in large part due to its concerns over Muslim separatists seeking an independent state called East Turkestan in the western Xinjiang region, but the USA disputes that they are terrorists. The statement reflected China’s stances on a range of issues, a small victory for a Beijing worried about weakened influence in Central Asia since the arrival of U.S. troops in its backyard.
Reuters |
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Pakistan wants role in rebuilding Afghanistan BUT for the capture, dead or alive, of Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden and his host in Afghanistan Mullah Mohammad Omar, the operation launched by the US-led international coalition against global terrorism has all but ended in this country. A much more difficult and challenging task is yet to begin: restoration of peace and holistic reconstruction of war-torn Afghanistan from a scratch. For the reconstruction work, peace evidently will be a pre-condition. International community will have to make sure that ethnic and tribal rivalries and the influence of those external forces which are responsible for the present state of affairs in Afghanistan are not allowed to sabotage the reconstruction work. A three-day meeting organised by the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and the Asian Development Bank in Islamabad in November-end, took stock of the social, economic and political situation in Afghanistan and appointed a committee to formulate its recommendations for the reconstruction work. This committee’s recommendations will be presented at another meeting to be held in Tokyo this month. The Islamabad meeting named the restoration of political stability, law and order and financial and judicial systems as its top priority. Clearing the mines, agriculture, education and health, sanitation, repairs or construction of roads and bridges and creating conditions for the return of refugees to their homes, came next. The meeting was of the view that linguistic differences, which had been aggravated by outsiders in Afghanistan, would have to be taken into account when starting the reconstruction work. It is not known yet what role Pakistan will be assigned in the reconstruction work being the next door neighbour of Afghanistan. Islamabad has already claimed it should be given a major role. President General Pervez Musharraf told China’s official weekly the Beijing Review during his visit to Beijing in December-end that his country was better placed than any other to carry out the reconstruction work in Afghanistan. According to a report in Urdu daily Jang (Rawalpindi edition), General Musharraf had told Pakistani businessmen, relevant ministries and departments in mid-November to be ready for maximum participation in the $ 10 billion reconstruction work in Afghanistan. The paper quoted officials saying that the reconstruction programme offered a unique opportunity to strengthen Pakistan’s own economy. Pakistan, it said, had told the USA that it wanted its rightful role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. In view of Pakistan’s past role in Afghanistan, especially its role in foisting Taliban regime on that country, there may be problems if it is allowed to enter the war-torn country as a reconstruction missionary. First, the Northern Alliance, which virtually rules Afghanistan at present and the common Afghans all blame Pakistan for their plight. they may resist Pakistan’s involvement in the reconstruction work. Two, the bloody conflicts among different ethnic and tribal groups were largely the result of how Pakistan distributed foreign funds and weapons to them during the Afghan war in eighties. Much of these funds found their way into the bank accounts of Pakistani Generals and religious leaders. Afghan leaders are well aware of this fact. Third, going by Pakistan’s own performance in the socio-economic field, one cannot take it as a credible country for reconstruction work in another country. Nobody in Pakistan can deny that most of the money meant for economic growth and the social sector in the country has routinely been grabbed by people in top places. One should read the reports of Pakistan’s National Bureau of Accountability to see how endemic is the menace of corruption in this country. Fourth, Pakistan’s claim to reconstruction work in Afghanistan may be an attempt to pre-empt India’s involvement. That is General Musharraf’s obsession. On his own admission (September 19) he joined the US-led international coalition to keep India out of it and also to frustrate India’s desire to have a friendly government in Afghanistan in place of Taliban. It goes without saying that those to be involved in the reconstruction work in Afghanistan must have some credibility at home and also must be acceptable to the people of this country. |
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Teen pilot had sympathy for Laden Washington, January 7 Mr Bennie Holder, Tampa police chief, said in the suicide note which found in 15-year-old Charles Bishop’s pocket, the young pilot clearly expressed sympathy towards Osama bin Laden and September 11 terrorist strikes. Declining to elaborate on the contents of the note, Mr Holder said Bishop “clearly stated in it that he had acted alone without any help from anyone else”. “We can assume he was a troubled young man”, police chief said. Bishop’s grandmother had taken him to the National Aviation Academy flight school in St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport where he was taking lessons since March last, for an early morning flying session on Saturday, said Marianne Pasha, a police spokeswoman. Bishop was told to check the Cesna 172 plane before starting the lessons but he took off in it without waiting for the flight instructor, though in the USA boys are not allowed to fly planes unaccompanied by an instructor. A coastguard helicopter caught up with Bishop over Tampa after he had travelled about 30 km and the crew signalled him to land but he ignored them and crashed into the 42-storeyed Bank of America building. Fire Department officials said Bishop was killed instantaneously and no one else was died or injured in the crash which was patterned on the September 11 attacks. The damage to the building was limited to the area where the plane hit and adjoining floors also sustained minor damages, they said adding that the plane dangled from the 28th floor of the building after the crash. Two F-15 fighter jets were also pressed into service from Homestead Air Reserve Base, 320 km away, but they arrived after the crash. Meanwhile, the police officials dismissed the possibility of Bishop having links with any terrorist organisations. A posse of investigators, including FBI, quizzed the parents of Bishop and said they would examine his personal computer for further evidences.
PTI |
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Ultras wanted ‘to hit US Embassy’ Singapore, January 7 In a statement released to AFP, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said: “American establishments, including the US Embassy and commercial entities, were the principal targets for attack.” The US Embassy said it was confident of the security measures taken so far by Singapore. Urging the public to remain calm, the MHA said an attack was unlikely now that the arrests had been made. “We believe that the terror network has been disrupted. There is no information of any imminent threat,” Ong-Chew Peck Wan, ministry spokeswoman said in the statement. Authorities in the island-state have stepped up security measures, including cooperation with regional countries, said Ong-Chew.
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1500 evacuated from Sydney areas Sydney, January 7 The emergency was declared just hours after weary firefighters sang and danced after heavy rain doused many other wildfires west and north of the city of 4 million persons. There were hopes that the showers have signaled an end to the 15-day fire crisis, in which more than 100 blazes had burned out of control across Australia’s most populous state. The evacuations were ordered from the villages of Cudmirrah, Berrara and Fisherman’s Paradise after high temperatures and strong winds fanned flames within 1 km of homes.
AP |
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