A group of recruits at the radical Finsbury Park mosque in London, which is run by British intelligence informer and radical London imam Abu Hamza al-Masri, were groomed as suicide bombers.
British authors Sean O’Neill and Daniel McGrory later commented: “It was in north London that the suicide bombers were provided with money, documents, and the names of the contacts who would steer them to the intended targets in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Kashmir, and the cities of Europe.”44 In addition to being an informer for the British, Abu Hamza was under surveillance by numerous intelligence services, including the same British ones he worked for. What the British authorities knew of this squad, and whether they attempted to do anything about it, is not known.
Take the case of Omar Saeed Sheikh.45 In the years 1987–1989, Omar Saeed Sheikh attended school in Pakistan, where his family had relocated, before returning to the United Kingdom to continue his studies. After graduating Forest School, Omar Saeed Sheikh enrolled at London School of Economics (LSE), in October 1992, where he studied applied mathematics and economics. Omar Saeed Sheikh was originally recruited by British intelligence agency, MI6, while studying at the LSE. He was seen with Islamic fundamentalists and was instrumental in recruiting students around London to the cause. It is unclear whether he was recruited to MI6 because of his Islamic connections or mingled in Islamic circle as an MI6 agent. Omar Saeed Sheikh was reportedly sent to Bosnia as an aid worker by MI6 to engage in jihadi operations.
The row centred on the continued violence in Helmand province, where British troops were based, and Londons refusal to acknowledge publicly Pakistans role in supporting the Taliban.
He returned to Pakistan in 1993 and began to operate as an ISI agent. By 1994, he was running training camps in Afghanistan. He was arrested and served time in prison for the 1994 abduction of three British nationals in India. In prison, he got acquainted with Aftab Ansari. Omar Saeed Sheikh was released from jail on 31 December 1999 as part of the Flight 814 hostage deal and provided safe passage to Pakistan. Omar Saeed Sheikh associated himself to the Taliban and al-Qaeda and operated hand in glove with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in the abduction and assassination on 1 February 2002 of the American journalist Daniel Pearl.46
Britain’s other weapon is the fundamentalist Islamic groups that it harbours. Two of these groups, Tablighi Jamaat47 and Hizb ut-Tahrir, are active within Pakistan, promoting Islamic caliphate. These groups are funded mostly by Saudis and Kuwaitis. Times Online (UK), on 4 July 2009, came out with a revealing article “British Islamists plot against Pakistan.” In that article, it states:
“British militants are pushing for the overthrow of the Pakistani state. Followers of the fundamentalist group Hizb ut-Tahrir have called for a ‘bloodless military coup’ in Islamabad and the creation of the caliphate in which strict Islamic laws would be rigorously enforced. . . .
“At Lahore’s Superior College, where Muqeem has set up a Hizb ut-Tahrir student group, he said the organisation’s aim was to subject Muslim and western countries to Islamic rule under sharia law, ‘by force’ if necessary. . . .
Karzai accused Britain of “compromising” with Islamabad because of its need for cooperation from Pakistans security services to infiltrate terrorist groups involving British Muslims.
“He added that Islamic rule would be spread through ‘indoctrination’ and by ‘military means’ if non-Muslim countries refused to bow to it. ‘Waging war’ would be part of the caliphate’s foreign policy.
“One of Hizb ut-Tahrir’s strategies in Pakistan is to influence military officers, he revealed.
“Shahzad Sheikh, a Pakistani recruit and the group’s official spokesman in Karachi, talked openly about persuading the army to instigate a ‘bloodless coup’ against the present government who, he said, were ‘worse than the Taliban.’
“‘It is the military who hold the power (in Pakistan) and we are asking them to give their allegiance to Hizb ut-Tahrir,’ he said. ‘I can’t explain to you in detail how we are trying to influence the military . . . We never disclose our methodology of change. You may say it’s a coup.’
“In 2003 four army officers were arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of being linked to extremist groups, although the groups and men have not been named. A Hizb ut-Tahrir insider at the time claims they were recruited by the organization’s ‘Pakistan team’ while training at Sandhurst in England.”48
Tablighi Jamaat, which originated in the Indian subcontinent during the days of the British Raj days, promotes Deobandi variety of Sunni Islam. Reports indicate that the Tabligh has at least 10,000 of its members in Kyrgyzstan alone. The New York Times once quoted an FBI official claiming the Jamaat a recruiting ground for al-Qaeda. The police in the UK also carried out interrogations based on information that Mohammad Sidique Khan, leader of the London bombers of 7/7, had frequented the Tablighi headquarters in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai had long been battling the British design in Afghanistan. Back in 2007, some of Karzai’s closest advisers had accused Britain of conspiring with Pakistan to hand over southern Afghanistan. The deputy head of mission at the British embassy was in such a heated argument with the president that it was feared he would be expelled. Karzai’s chief of staff, Jawed Ludin, was forced to resign after his attempts to defend Britain led to accusations that he was a British spy. The row centred on the continued violence in Helmand province, where British troops were based, and London’s refusal to acknowledge publicly Pakistan’s role in supporting the Taliban. Karzai accused Britain of “compromising” with Islamabad because of its need for cooperation from Pakistan’s security services to infiltrate terrorist groups involving British Muslims.49
Continued…: Salvaging America’s Botched Strategic Foray into Asia – III
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