Drishtikone
Many times I have said with conviction on many forums that in my eyes there is NO difference between ISI (Pak Intelligence), Pak Army, Kashmiri terrorists and Al Qaeda was all really just one big organization – kind of like an octopus with tentacles! The Indian Airlines hijacking proved that beyond any doubt.. and this piece does that really well too! The terror landscape is all too clear.. isnt it?
Pakistani officials confirmed that Mr. Rauf, a British citizen born in Pakistan, returned from Britain to settle in Bahawalpur in 2002 and that he married and had children there. Bahawalpur is a small town in southern Punjab, far from Mirpur, in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, the town Mr. Rauf’s family comes from.
Members of Jaish-e-Mohammed, insisting on anonymity, said Mr. Rauf had stayed a member of the group throughout its reincarnations.
A Reuters report from Bahawalpur, however, quoted the father of the founder of Jaish-e-Mohammed as saying Mr. Rauf had belonged to the group but later left it. The father, Hafiz Allah Bukhsh, said Mr. Rauf was related by marriage to one of his younger sons. The two men were married to two sisters, Mr. Bukhsh said. A former Pakistani official with close ties to intelligence agencies confirmed the details and said Mr. Rauf had “longstanding links with Jaish-e-Mohammed and also had Al Qaeda connections.”
Mr. Rauf has emerged as the main coordinating figure of the London case. His arrest led to the arrests of 24 people in Britain last Thursday.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In