Four Pak army majors questioned in brigadier detention case

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Four majors of the Pakistan Army are being questioned by authorities in connection with the detention of a brigadier for his alleged links with a banned militant group, amid fears of terror sympathisers penetrating the rank and file of the armed forces.

The four officers had been questioned but had not been detained, the chief military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told the media. The officers had been included in the probe against Brig Ali Khan, whose detention was confirmed by the army yesterday.

Khan had links to the Hizb-ut-Tehrir and was found to be involved in illegal activities that went against military discipline, Abbas said. Khan continues to be in custody and is being interrogated, he said.

The brigadier had been serving as director for rules and regulations at the army's General Headquarters in Rawalpindi at the time of his detention on May 6. Khan, who had trained in the US and was set to retire soon, was denied promotion in the past because of his extremist leanings, the ‘Dawn’ newspaper reported on Thursday.

Abbas dismissed the impression that a large number of army soldiers had links to extremists or banned groups. He said in a large organisation like the army, the presence of few individuals like Khan could not be ruled out.

Meanwhile, in a message sent to local journalists, the Hizb-ut-Tehrir said it was not its policy ‘to confirm or deny such news’ as the arrested brigadier's alleged links to the group.

"We keep calling on the people of power to give us the (material support) to re-establish a caliphate and we are expecting the sincere (military) officers to give it to us," the statement said.

The arrest of Khan has sparked concerns about the presence of sympathisers for the Hizb-ut-Tehrir in the Pakistani military. Shortly after the covert US raid that killed Al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad on May 2, the Hizb-ut-Tehrir distributed pamphlets in military cantonments that called on army officers to establish an Islamic caliphate.

"It is a slap in the respected officers' faces that on May 2, American helicopters intruded in the dark of night and barged into a house like thieves. It could not have been possible without the acquiescence of your high officials," a media report quoted the pamphlet as saying.