 KARACHI - Pakistani police said on Monday four suspected Islamic militants arrested last week belong to the youth wing of an opposition Islamic party but have no links with the Al Qaeda network.
The four were arrested in the southern city of Karachi on Saturday with pistols and ammunition. Police said they belonged to a group of 22 militants who were planning attacks in the city. The four belong to the youth wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, Karachi police chief Tariq Jameel told a news conference.
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âDuring interrogation they revealed they belonged to this party and confirmed they had plans to create terror in the city,â he said. âInitial investigations show no links of this group with Al Qaeda. At the moment we have no evidence they have got terrorist training outside Pakistan,â he said.
The Jamaat-e-Islami is a main member of an alliance of conservative religious parties known as the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, which opposes President Pervez Musharrafâs liberal policy of âenlightened moderationâ. In an Independence Day speech on Sunday, Musharraf urged the country to reject conservative religious parties in local government elections due to begin on Aug. 18, saying they were blocking the countryâs progress. A spokesman for Jamaat-e-Islami said the four were party workers but denied that they had anything to do with anti-state activities.
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âTheyâre creating fake cases against our workers because they want to keep us out of the local government elections,â said Sarfaraz Ahmed, a spokesman for the party in Karachi. Jameel said police were continuing their investigation of the four suspects who had been remanded in custody until Aug 21. Police were also hunting other members of their gang, he said. |