U.S. FBI Wants To Quiz Maulana Azhar

by Abdullah Iqbal
Gulf News
January 5, 2002

 


The United States Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) has asked the Pakistan government permission to question Maulana Masood Azhar, the leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed currently being held at Mianwali Jail.

According to reports, the permission has been granted and FBI officials may travel to Pakistan within the next week for the purpose.

Pakistani authorities are, however, said to have suggested that senior personnel of agencies based in the country initially be granted a chance to talk to Azhar, and the FBI called in if this does not produce answers to certain key questions. Sources say that the U.S. interest in Maulana Azhar lies in their belief that Azhar is closely linked to Osama bin Laden, and was one of bin Laden's most trusted allies.

"The Americans are aware Azhar met Bin Laden often, and are convinced he can give important information about bin Laden's present whereabouts and even the September 11 attacks."

According to some published reports, the U.S. has even shown an interest in extraditing Azhar, but it is thought the Pakistani authorities have indicated this may not be possible. The same reports also state that a primary reason for this U.S. interest is the link between Azhar, and a young terrorist, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh.

Sheikh, educated at Lahore's highly prestigious Aitchison College, a school that ranks with Eton and Harrow on the elitist ladder, and at the London School of Economics - where he met up with those linked to extremist Islamic groups - is thought to have been closely associated with the September 11 attacks.

He is thought to have been the person who sent money to hijacker Mohammed Atta and dealt with various other financial aspects of the strikes.

Sheikh is a protege of Maulana Azhar and was in fact freed along with him from an Indian jail on the demand of hijackers of an Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar in 1999.

According to sources within rebel organisations, the Jaish-e-Mohammed, founded by Azhar in 2000, is "the wealthiest of the rebel groups."

These sources say that the organisation has very large sums in its accounts, and that they use "really top-notch equipment and vehicles that must cost the earth".

Pakistani authorities are said to be attempting to track down the source of this funding and also to substantiate rumours within the rebel organisations that bin Laden helped provide the money.

The rapid rise of the Jaish-e-Mohammed also means that today, according to intelligence agency estimates, it is said to have one of the "largest membership bases among religious groups".

Cassette recordings of Azhar's fiery speeches are also distributed regularly by the Jaish-e-Mohammed, in both Pakistan and Kashmir, and the organisation, the operations of which are shrouded in secrecy, is said to have a "well-organised leadership stricture".

Many Jaish-e-Mohammed leaders have gone underground following the arrest of Maulana Azhar and activists of the group, but are said, according to some sources, to be "still carrying on with activities."

It may be noted that, a few weeks earlier, the FBI had been permitted to interrogate Pakistani nuclear scientist Sultan Bashiruddin Mehmood and administer a lie detector test.

Though the FBI has, according to sources, told the Washington government it "trusts" Pakistani officials involved in questioning Azhar, it would also like to "undertake this task itself given the key importance of the information the detainee is thought to have access to".

 

Copyright 2002

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