JeM denied that Rashid Rauf, arrested in Pakistan in connection with the terror plot in UK, had ever been a member of the group.
ISLAMABAD: An aide to the leader of banned Pakistani militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad denied on Thursday that a British Muslim arrested in Pakistan in connection with the plot to blow up transatlantic airliners had ever been a member of the group.
"This individual, Rashid Rauf, was never a member of Jaish-e-Mohammad ... and was never ever close to Maulana Masood in any capacity," said Ismail Hamza, referring to the militant group's leader, Maulana Masood Azhar.
Azhar's father, Hafiz Allah Bukhsh, told reporters on Wednesday that Rauf had been a member of Jaish, a group focused on fighting Indian-rule in Kashmir, before joining a rival movement that was anti-American and more focused on Afghanistan.
Pakistan has identified Rauf as an al Qaeda member.
Hamza, a spokesman for Azhar's family, denied that the elderly Buksh had spoken to a Reuters journalist.
Reuters also reported that Bukhsh said Rauf was related by marriage to one of his own sons. Several other news organisations have since reported Rauf was related by marriage to Azhar's family. Some reports also said he had been a Jaish member, though others have suggested he used a splinter group, Jamiat-ul-Furqan, as a conduit to communicate with al Qaeda.
Pakistani intelligence officials have said, on condition of anonymity, that Rauf was arrested in Bahawalpur on Aug. 9, just hours before British police detained 24 people suspected of being part of a plot to blow up passenger aircraft bound for the United States.
A phone call made by Rauf from Bahawalpur triggered the decision taken by the Pakistani, British and US intelligence agencies to launch raids to foil a conspiracy they had been monitoring since late last year, according to the officials.
Azhar's family home is in Bahawalpur, a city close to the Indian border in the south of Pakistan's central province of Punjab.
Under pressure from Washington, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf banned several militant groups, including Jaish, in 2002 and Azhar has been in hiding since then. Some groups splintered and morphed after the ban and some members left to join al Qaeda, experts say.
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