A nationwide manhunt began in Pakistan on Sunday night 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 United Kingdom and Pakistan.
The country’s interim Interior Minister on Sunday reassured British officials that every effort would be made to recapture the 26-year-old fugitive, whose family lives in Birmingham.
The loss of Rauf, sought by Britain on grounds of alleged involvement over the murder of an uncle from the Midlands in 2002, is a fresh embarrassment for the Islamabad regime, which has been criticised for imposing emergency rule.
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 spokesperson 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.
A Home Ministry official, Kamal Shah, said that the two constables in charge of Rauf were being ”interrogated for their criminal negligence”. Security teams were combing the country to find him, his photograph had been circulated to airports and Islamabad had been sealed off. Shah said an investigation team would file a report within three days.
Diplomats in Islamabad were giving the Pakistani authorities the benefit of the doubt. ”The feeling is, it is a cock-up not conspiracy,” said one Western official. ”The Pakistanis were reluctant to give Rauf up at first but once they decided to allow an extradition they were seen to be helpful.”
There is deep frustration in the British intelligence community that Rauf, sometimes dubbed one of the UK’s most wanted men, had such light security and slipped away so easily. Counterterrorist sources acknowledged, however, that the Pakistan authorities had adopted a helpful attitude to the extradition request recently.
Rauf’s case has generated controversy since his detention in August 2006. United States and UK intelligence services were originally said to have clashed over the timing of his arrest, the British reportedly preferring to keep him and alleged UK-based conspirators under surveillance. More recently the protracted extradition process has provoked claims that Rauf’s return to the UK was being eased along by the charging of two UK-based activists who campaigned for the independence of Baluchistan.
The activists, Faiz Baluch (25) and Hyrbyair Marri (39) both of London, were charged with inciting another person to commit an act of terrorism ”wholly or partly outside the UK”. Both had protested against Pakistan’s rule in Baluchistan.
Campaigners allege the pair are being traded for Rauf. That claim was again denied by the British Home Office on Sunday: ”Each extradition request is assessed on its own merits … there’s never been any question of reciprocity.”
There is no extradition treaty between the UK and Pakistan but cooperation exists on a case by case basis. The Home Office added: ”This [escape] is a matter for the Pakistani authorities. We have put in an extradition request for Rauf to face trial for the murder of his uncle.”
Rauf’s escape coincided with a protest on Sunday afternoon outside Downing Street by Baluchistan activists.
Rauf’s arrest last year triggered police raids in the UK and, for the public, stricter hand baggage rules on flights. Rauf holds joint British and Pakistani citizenship. His father, Abdul, said: ”I don’t know anything – I’m shocked.” His family have denied he has had anything to do with terrorism.
Rauf has been in Pakistan since 2002 and is married to a relative of Maulana Masood Azhar, the founder of the Islamic group Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Fifteen people have been charged with terrorism offences in connection with the alleged airline plot. – Guardian Unlimited Â