Author: Sheela Bhatt in New Delhi
Publication: Rediff on Net
Date: October 5, 2001
As part of the ongoing clamp down
on terrorist outfits, Pakistani authorities on Friday arrested Fazl-ur
Rehman Khalil, chief commander of the Harkat-ul Mujahideen, a Pakistan-based
terrorist outfit active in Jammu and Kashmir, from Rawalpindi.
According to sources in Rawalpindi,
Khalil's arrest may have come about due to pressure from the United States,
which is also insisting on his extradition to the US.
The move is expected to have severe
repercussions in the country, the sources added.
According to sources in the Harkat,
its workers fear that President Gen Pervez Musharraf may hand over Khalil
to the US within a week.
On September 24, US President George
W Bush ordered freezing of the American assets of Saudi exile Osama bin
Laden, the main suspect in the September 11 terror strikes in the US, and
26 other outfits, including the Harkat-ul Mujahideen, and individuals as
part of Washington's campaign against terrorism.
