E-Paper
More 'educated' British Muslims take to terror
Young and educated British Muslims of Pak origin adopting ideology-driven violence has raised concerns.
The arrest of eight Britons of Pakistani origin on Tuesday, has raised concerns about the emergence of a new phenomenon wherein young and educated British Muslims of Pakistani origin are adopting ideology-driven violence.
A source familiar with the "massive multi-agency operation", that led to the arrests, told The Guardian, "It is one thing having foreigners doing things against us, but to have our own people - born and bred and raised in the UK - allegedly engaged in preparing a terrorist act is pretty shocking. It will have caused a bit of a jolt in Islamic communities in the UK."
Until now those suspected or found guilty of planning Islamic terrorist activities have been foreigners. It is for the first time that the suspects are British. Intelligence sources have been quoted saying that these men are not particularly religious, and have no direct links with Al-Qaeda figures, but are allegedly inspired by the organisation's anti-western ideology. Police computer experts are also searching through email records from a West Sussex internet cafe as the intelligence agencies try to establish links between eight UK terror suspects and senior militants in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the Muslim Council of Britain has sent messages to more than 1,000 mosques and organisations urging imams and British Muslims to turn in terrorists amidst them.
The one problem being faced by the police and prosecuting authorities now is that, in the case of foreigners, the suspects can be jailed indefinitely without trial, but Britons cannot. However, a judge has given anti-terrorist police three more days to question the eight men over an alleged terrorist plot in Britain. Officers can now hold the suspects under the Terrorism Act until Saturday afternoon, Scotland Yard has confirmed.
In Canada, a software developer working on contracts for the Canadian government in the Department of Foreign Affairs, is being held in connection with the UK arrests. Mohammed Momin Khawaja, 29, was arrested at work in Ottawa on Monday. According to police the accusations against him concern activities between November 10, 2003 and March 29, 2004 in Ottawa and in London. The Canadian-born son of Pakistani immigrants, Khawaja is said by police to have "knowingly facilitated a terrorist activity" in both cities.
It is believed the British suspects were allegedly plotting a car-bomb to kill hundreds of people. Seven of the men are aged 22 or under, and that they are Muslims. The family of the three men arrested have protested their sons' innocence.
Ansar Khan, 48, a taxi driver who works at Gatwick Airport, said there was "absolutely no truth" in the allegations against his son, 18-year-old Ahmad Khan. He also dismissed the possibility that his nephews Omar Khyam, 22, and Shujah Khyam, 17, had been involved in terrorist activity. Khan said Omar had been to the Pakistan border, after being influenced by Al Muhajiroun, but had no involvement with Al-Qaeda. He said the family had flown out and brought him home after around six weeks. Omar, who studied for his A-levels in Reigate, Surrey, once captained Sussex under-18s.
