Pakistan: cock-up, corrupt or complicit?
Crap politicians.
A nationwide manhunt began in Pakistan…after a
handcuffed British terrorist suspect escaped outside an extradition hearing at
an Islamabad court. The disappearance of Rashid Rauf, accused of
involvement in an alleged plot to blow up a dozen transatlantic airliners,
placed fresh pressure on the already strained diplomatic relations between the
UK and Pakistan.
The country’s interim interior minister yesterday reassured British officials that every effort would be made to recapture the 26-year-old fugitive, whose family lives in Birmingham.
Rauf reportedly managed to open his handcuffs and lose two police guards on Saturday, minutes after appearing at an extradition hearing. The two police officers are being questioned.
Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, had only just lifted the state of emergency that had been justified in part on grounds of fighting Islamist extremism. Laura Davies, a spokeswoman for the British high commission in Islamabad, said that Robert Brinkley, the UK’s high commissioner to Pakistan, had been assured by Musharraf’s interior minister that the capture of Rauf was “a top priority”. There would be an investigation into how he could have escaped.
Crap!
The country’s interim interior minister yesterday reassured British officials that every effort would be made to recapture the 26-year-old fugitive, whose family lives in Birmingham.
Rauf reportedly managed to open his handcuffs and lose two police guards on Saturday, minutes after appearing at an extradition hearing. The two police officers are being questioned.
Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, had only just lifted the state of emergency that had been justified in part on grounds of fighting Islamist extremism. Laura Davies, a spokeswoman for the British high commission in Islamabad, said that Robert Brinkley, the UK’s high commissioner to Pakistan, had been assured by Musharraf’s interior minister that the capture of Rauf was “a top priority”. There would be an investigation into how he could have escaped.
Crap!
Posted: Mon - December 17, 2007 at 01:16 PM