Bomb In Pakistan's Court

Pakistan's connection to the bombings has gathered credibility because one of the suspects, Shahzad Tanweer, is said to have stayed and studied in a religious seminary in Lahore. Even Pakistan's interior minister Aftab Khan Sherpao hinted at the Pakistan connection through his July 12 statement, "Before the general elections in the UK, we had received reports that this sort of situation may arise before the elections. That was aborted because of the information provided by the Pakistan government, based on which arrests were made in various countries."

That information, sources say, was provided by 25-year-old Naeem Noor Khan alias Abu Talha, who was arrested with 20 Al Qaeda suspects in Lahore on July 12, 2004 by the ISI. An Al Qaeda computer expert who allegedly set up its communication system, Noor had told his interrogators last year about a plan to attack Heathrow airport and London's public transport. He disclosed the details of a secret meeting in Lahore involving one Issa al-Hindi, who had come down from Britain; Shukrijumah, of Arab-Guyanese origin; Mohammed Junaid Babar, a Pakistani American, and Khan himself. Khan said the four had met to hire suitable operatives for carrying out serial bombings in London.

Before the arrest of Noor, Junaid Babar, 30, a naturalised Pakistani-American from Queens, New York, had been nabbed in April 2004 by a raiding party of the New York Police Department while he was on way to a taxi driving school in Long Island. A computer professional who left his job of 70,000 dollars a year to sign up for jehad, he corroborated the information Noor had provided, admitting to a London bombing plot.

The information was passed to London police who arrested 13 British Muslims of Pakistani origin in August 2004, in an operation code-named 'Operation Crevice'. Among the arrested was Issa al-Hindi. Further investigation revealed that the four operatives, including Issa, who had met in Lahore, had identified one Zeeshan Siddique, 25, from Heston Hounslow, Theville, London, as an operative to carry out the bombings.

Zeeshan was arrested in May 2005 from Peshawar; he identified himself as Shehzad from Madina Colony, Hyderabad. As the identity turned out to be fake, he was grilled till he admitted to being a British national who was wanted for his involvement in the plot to bomb pubs, restaurants and rail stations in London. Initially, though, Zeeshan had blamed Junaid and Omar Khayyam, one of the Pakistanis arrested in August 2004, for falsely implicating him.

In a written confession, Zeeshan stated that the bombing plot had to be aborted because one of their comrades developed cold feet; another had informed him that 'wagon' had now been called off. The reference to 'wagon' has now prompted security officials to take a fresh look at the whole case. "It is still premature to say anything. But we believe that the guy is holding back a lot of information," said one investigator. Sources here suspect Zeeshan belonged to Al Muhajiroun. A British team is expected to arrive in Pakistan next week to 'interview' Zeeshan and Noor.