Pakistan Says Arrests Notorious Militant [Terrorist - Daniel Pearl Murder]

Yahoo ^ | 6/23/03 | Unknown (Reuters)

[Coop]

MULTAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani police said on Monday they had arrested a prominent Islamic militant and four associates from a group linked to the murder of U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl and bloody bombings of Western targets.

Shahab-uddin, alias Imran, a provincial chief of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, one of Pakistan's most feared militant groups, was arrested overnight in the central city of Multan, they said.

"He was among the top five terrorists of Pakistan and most wanted man of Lashkar," Multan's deputy police chief, Iftikhar Ahmad Chaudhry, told a news conference.

"He was wanted for several attacks on Shi'ites and killings of policemen."

Pakistan officials say the Sunni Muslim Lashkar-e-Jhangvi had close ties to Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s former Taliban regime, having fought with it against the now ruling Northern Alliance when the United States attacked Afghanistan in 2001.

They say it also forged links in Afghanistan with Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network, which is blamed for the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

In Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is blamed for dozens of deadly attacks on the minority Shi'ite community since the mid-1990s.

Police have linked the group to attacks on Western targets in Karachi in 2002 -- the kidnap and murder of U.S. reporter Pearl and a car bomb killing 14 people including 11 Frenchmen. It is also accused of the massacre of 17 Christians in October 2001.

Earlier this year, the United States listed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi as a terrorist organization and news of the arrest comes ahead of a meeting in Washington scheduled for Tuesday between Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and President Bush (news - web sites).

Musharraf will be keen during his meeting with Bush to stress his efforts as a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terror.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has already been weakened by Musharraf's crackdown on Islamic militancy after the September 11 attacks.

Earlier this month, a Pakistani court upheld a death sentence on a Abdul Hayee, alias Asadullah, head of a Lashkar-e-Jhangvi splinter group, who was captured in May after years on the run.

[Coop]

More good news. One or two at a time...

[Coop]

Flag

[Free the USA]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[Coop]

These are essentially PR stunts.

You may call them whatever you like. That won't change the fact that Pakistan has delivered KSM, Ramzi bin Shibh, and Tawfiq Attash Khallad among many others. In short, of all the major Al Qaeda captures, Pakistan has been responsible for virtually all of them.

Yes, the country is a hotbed for terrorism. And yes, Pakistan's government has elements that support terrorism. But Musharraf is helping us fight the war on terror. No "buts" about it.

[swarthyguy]

BIG Bumpity BUmp BuMP BUMP!

[Dog]

Well said Coop!

One less terrorist walking the streets is how I look at it..

[Dog Gone]

I concur completely. I don't think there is much doubt that arrests that have been made in Pakistan in the past year and a half have prevented another successful al-Qaida attack here in the US.

Pakistan has been far more helpful than many of our other allies.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[Coop]

I have no interest in checking out your link. You're too removed from reality for my taste.

[Dog]

LOL!

[USMMA_83]

Yeah, you would think that.

[Cronos]

THe paks have only captured has-beens and let their successors carry on with their work. All the terrorist attacks on the US originate from pak and they keep giving us sops to get more of our tax-payer's money and military. Don't forget that the slamic bombbelongs to Pak!

[Cronos]

"Pka has been more helpful" Yeah right, they've been the ones' BEHIND the al-Q, they still sponsor the alQ, they still breed terroslamocrazies who cause trouble in the rest of the slamic world as well as in the west. REAL HELPFUL 'Allies'!

[Cronos]

Oh and about Mush helping us, you've got to be kidding, he's had to be cajoled the entire way, we've funnelled tons of $$ and weapons his way which inevitably ends up in the hands of alQ and other terrorgroups. The slamic nuke is with them and they could leak it to any terrorgroup when they want to. To support pak is to nurture a Judas

[Cronos]

Couldn't have put it better myself. I think we should never forget that GENERAL Mush is a tin-pot dictator the same as Saddam, he had a phony election just like Saddam, he supported alQ just like Saddam, he supports terroristas just like Saddy and he has WMD just like Saddy -- he's got nukes, chem warfare and thanks to the chicoms, probably Biological weapons too.

[Coop]

Why are you so afraid of the link that you wouldn't even check it out, lest it might expose you to reality that is different from what you have constructed it for yourself?

Afraid? No. Not wanting to waste my time? Yes.