Thesun 2008-12-09 Page15 Pakistian Nabs Mumbai Plot Suspect

theSun

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| TUESDAY DECEMBER 9 2008

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Pakistan nabs Mumbai plot suspect ISLAMABAD: One of the suspected planners of last month’s attack by gunmen in Mumbai was arrested by Pakistani security forces in a raid on a militant camp near Muzaffarabad, sources in the capital of Pakistani Kashmir said yesterday. Islamabad has so far been silent over Sunday’s raid at the camp used by Lashkar-e-Taiba fighters in the hills outside Muzaffarabad, but a spokesman for the jihadi group confirmed it had been targeted. “Pakistani forces have attacked our camps in Muzaraffabad under pressure from the US and India. We repeat that Laskhar-e-Taiba has nothing to do with the Mumbai attacks,” Abdullah Ghaznavi, a spokesman for Lashkar, told Reuters in a satellite telephonecall. India and the United States have pressed Pakistan to act against militants suspected of being behind the attacks, which killed at least 171 people, or risk an escalation in tensions between the nucleararmed neighbours. Intelligence officials, workers with a charity linked to Lashkar and people living nearby say the area around the camp was sealed off before security forces moved in to make arrests. An official with the Jamaat-udDawa charity said Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a Lashkar operations chief named by India as a suspect, was taken into custody. “Yes, Lakhvi is among four or five people arrested in a raid yesterday,” said the official, whose

briefs Wife of ex-charity chief admits money laundering HONGKONG: The wife of the former chairman of Singapore’s biggest charity yesterday pleaded guilty in a Hongkong court to money laundering, her lawyer said. On Shu Kio, wife of Richard Yong, former chairman of the National Kidney Foundation, admitted dealing in money which she knew was from the proceeds of a criminal offence, barrister Toby Jenkyn-Jones said. The 64-year-old will be sentenced on Dec 16, he said. The guilty plea was the latest fallout from a corruption scandal that rocked the charity and its senior officers. Yong had earlier been convicted of illegally transferring S$3.92 million (RM9 million) into his wife’s account in Hongkong, according to the records of Singapore’s Commercial Affairs Department. Yong transferred the money in an effort to avoid paying damages ordered by a court in a case brought by the charity’s new management against him for breach of duty. On May 17, 2007 he fled Singapore with his wife for Hongkong just hours after a high court declared him bankrupt. He was later repatriated and

JuD charity is regarded as a front for the feared militant group. A former militant who now has close ties to the JuD also said Lakhvi had been arrested, as did one intelligence official. All of them were speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of talking about security matters. Other Pakistani intelligence officers said six men were arrested, but gave no names. The surviving gunman captured in Mumbai named Lakhvi and another Lashkar commander, Yusuf Muzammil, as ringleaders in the plot, according to Indian officials. Indian police said they had identified the nine dead gunmen, and the places they came from in Pakistan. Rakesh Maria, the lead investigator for Mumbai police, said three suspects including one in custody were from Okara district, three from Multan, two from Faisalbad, one from Sialkot and he identified the leader as Ismail Khan, from Dera Ismail Khan. They were also questioning a man arrested in northern India last February, and investigating if there were any links to homegrown militant groups. The man being questioned is an Indian citizen who was caught with maps that highlighted several targets hit in Mumbai. If Lakhvi’s arrest is officially confirmed, it will raise the question of what the Pakistani authorities will do with him, and whether it will satisfy India. – Reuters

sentenced to jail for 15 months in September last year. – AFP

Not so hot Xmas calendars SYDNEY: Is a bare-all calendar a sure-fire way for your community group to raise funds this Christmas? An Australian researcher said yesterday total exposure was a turn-off and that calendars leaving something to the imagination were the better sellers. “Experience has shown that in the successful calendars the bodies must be sanitised – non-erotic, maternal, coy and covered,” University of Tasmania lecturer Dr Pamela TurtonTurner said. “That is, they are de-eroticised because they are accepted as maternal, giving and nurturing.” She told Australia’s AAP news agency that pubic hair and nipples were out and strategically held teacups and flowers were in. – dpa

Environmentalists block airport LONDON: More than 50 activists blocked the runway of London’s Stansted Airport yesterday morning to protest against the creation greenhouse gases by planes. Plane Stupid, a climate action group, said on its website that about 50 if its members

Aussies asked to spend A$8b before Xmas pg 22

shut down the airport by camping on the runway and surrounding themselves with security fencing. “We’re here because our parents’ generation has failed us and its now down to young people to stop climate change by whatever peaceful means we have left,” one group member, whose name was given as Lily, said in a statement posted on the internet. The group plans to maintain the blockage as long as possible to prevent the emission of greenhouse gases. Police arrested four of the protesters, the BBC reported. – dpa

HK convicts get right to vote HONGKONG: A court ruling yesterday set the stage for prison inmates to be able to vote in elections for the first time in Hongkong’s history. Justice Andrew Cheung ruled that inmates have the constitutional right to register as voters and cast their ballots while serving sentences. The case was brought by two men, Chan Kin-sum and Choi Chuen-sun, who are currently in jail, and legislator Leung Kwok-hung, who had previously served time for offences against public order. The government said it would study the judgment. – dpa