Al-Qaeda suspect's release a blow to Pakistan

The release of a man suspected of links to Al-Qaeda could undermine Pakistan's claims to be winning the battle to contain terrorism within its borders, analysts and experts said Tuesday.
Pakistan's Supreme Court heard Monday that Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, who is alleged to have been an Al-Qaeda computer expert, had been released without charge after three years in custody,
Khan, who was arrested on July 12, 2004 in the eastern city of Lahore, was now at home in Karachi, his lawyer Babar Awan told AFP.
Shortly after his arrest, Pakistani investigators said interrogations of Khan and searches of his computer files and email records led them to an active worldwide Al-Qaeda ring which was plotting fresh attacks in Britain, Pakistan and the United States.
They said Khan was a top Al-Qaeda planner who used his computer skills to concoct secret codes and help its operatives send encrypted email and website messages to each other.
A senior official involved in the investigation told AFP: "He (Khan) was a key figure in 2004 Al-Qaeda plots to stage new terror strikes in the United States, Great Britain and Kenya and his arrest led to the capture of an Al-Qaeda sleeper cell in great Britain.
"But there was no serious attempt made by the intelligence agency which had him in custody for the past three years to initiate any legal proceedings."
According to the official, who did not want to be identified, Khan could have been tried under the Security of Pakistan Act or for waging war against other countries using Pakistan as a base.
"But when the Supreme Court started hearing the petition early this year, it was too late to initiate any legal proceedings against Khan," he said.
Khan's case is among several where people arrested on suspicion of plotting attacks on Western targets and helping Al-Qaeda have later been released by the courts.
Awan said he had petitioned the Supreme Court in an attempt to discover his client's whereabouts, part of a case taken by relatives and rights groups on behalf of hundreds of missing people allegedly abducted and held without charge by intelligence agencies.
"I told the Supreme Court that so far the government had not indicted Khan and no case had been registered against him," Awan said.
Ahmad Javed Khawaja, 59, and his accountant brother Ahmad Naveed were both released after six months in prison in June 2003 after the Supreme Court upheld a judicial tribunal's call for their release.
They had been held on charges of sheltering Al-Qaeda figures.
In another case, heart specialist Akmal Waheed and his brother, orthopaedic surgeon Arshad Waheed, were jailed for seven years in March 2005 for alleged Al-Qaeda links. Their convictions were set aside last year.
Analysts said these and other cases undermined the credibility of the government's claims to be making progress in curtailing terrorist activities within Pakistan's borders.
"It shows that the real culprits are free to do whatever they want and the authorities are catching innocent people to prove their efficiency," said defence analyst Talat Masood.
"It weakens Pakistan's case when it says that we are fighting terrorism and then it arrests people who are not genuinely involved suspects," Masood said.
"Catching the wrong people also gives big leverage to militants who are active in the country. That is why there is so much cynicism against the war against terrorism and many people are now saying it's all a farce."
Political analyst Hasan Askari said Pakistani intelligence officials' claims of success in conquering the Al-Qaeda threat were running out of steam because of the inability to prove charges against suspects.
"In the war against terrorism it is a very serious problem that you cannot come up with evidence against the terror suspects because most of the evidence is circumstantial and hard to prove in a court," Askari said.
Any perceived propaganda value of "high-profile" arrests such as Khan's was also evaporating as the courts pressured authorities to build better cases and produce solid evidence, he said.