Britain is engaged in secret talks with Pakistan to swap a terrorist suspect wanted for questioning over the alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners last summer, a media report on Wednesday said.
LONDON: Britain is engaged in secret talks with Pakistan to swap a terrorist suspect wanted for questioning over the alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners last summer, a media report on Wednesday said.
According to a report in 'The Guardian', the British government is demanding the return of Rashid Rauf, a 26-year-old who is held in a high security prison in Pakistan.
But ministers in Pakistan have responded by asking for something in return.
In a proposed swap, they are calling for the extradition of up to eight persons living in the UK who they claim are involved in an uprising in the western oil-rich province of Baluchistan.
Lawyers from the Crown Prosecution Service flew to Islamabad last month to try to speed up the process and help the authorities prepare extradition papers for the eight.
But human rights groups have condemned any attempt to 'barter' individuals, and warned both governments that the due process of the law must be followed.
Rauf, originally from Birmingham, was arrested by Pakistani police last August. He has been charged in Pakistan with possession of 29 bottles of hydrogen peroxide, a key ingredient used in the past by al-Qaeda in the manufacture of bombs, and the possession of fake South African identity papers.
According to anti-terrorist sources in the UK, Rauf is a 'very important' suspect in the network of British-based Islamist terrorists.
His arrest by Pakistan's security service, the ISI, last August sparked a series of raids in Britain in connection with an alleged attempt to blow up transatlantic airliners.
Fifteen people have been charged with terrorism offences in connection with the alleged plot.
Among those whom the Pakistanis want extradited are Mehran Baluch and Gazian Marri, leading figures in the nationalist movement in Baluchistan, where the president Pervez Musharraf is quelling an insurgency.
Baluch, 33, lives in London and is the chairman of the Baluchistan Rights Movement.
He has lived in the UK for more than 20 years.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}