So MI5 says that UK citizens (read UK citizens of Pakistani decent) will the tools for Alqaida and LeT. MI5 may be right! After all 7/7 bombers and Glasgow’s self-burning doctors are clear proofs. May God keep UK safe.
Al-Qaeda in Pakistan threat to Britain: MI5
M. Ziauddin
Wednesday, 07 Jan, 2009 | 11:51 PM PST |
LONDON: It is understood that billing records have been uncovered revealing telephone calls between the Pakistan-based Lashkar-i-Taiba suspected of being behind the Mumbai attacks and attacks in other countries, including Britain, ‘but nothing of security significance was found,’ Jonathan Evans, MI5’s new chief, told reporters on Wednesday.
According to The Guardian the MI5 chief also divulged that there had been indirect connections between the terrorists in Mumbai in November and individuals in Britain but that there was no evidence of any national security issue for Britain.
He disclosed that al-Qaeda’s high command in Pakistan remained intent on using British citizens to carry out attacks on British soil, making necessary the constant surveillance of thousands of suspects. Terrorists were being forced ‘to keep their heads down because of relentless surveillance and successful prosecutions.’
Breaking with secrecy traditions to speak of his concerns, Mr Evans also said 2,000 terrorist suspects in Britain were the subject of constant surveillance. ‘The strategic intent of the al-Qaeda core, [based] in Pakistan, is to mount attacks in the UK, and their model is to use British nationals or residents to deliver the attacks,’ Mr Evans said.
However, in the past 18 months there had been fewer cases where terrorists had moved from facilitating and supporting terrorism to planning attacks. He said: ‘There have been 86 successful convictions since January 2007 of whom approaching half pleaded guilty, which has had a chilling effect on the enthusiasm of the networks. They’re keeping their heads down.’
The MI5 chief also said that the 2012 Olympics in London potentially presented a major terrorist target but the right way to deal with it was not to pursue every red herring but to concentrate on known terrorist networks.
And as for the ordering of assassinations, MI5 is emphatic. Whatever happens in Spooks, the MI5 website states categorically that it ‘does not kill people or arrange their assassination.’
http://www.dawn.net/wps/wcm/connect/Dawn Content Library/dawn/news/world/al-qaeda-in-pakistan-threat-to-britain-mi5–qs
