Pakistan's Release of Al-qaida Suspect Upsets Us and Uk

Pakistan's decision to release a suspect al-Qaida expert accused of training suicide bombers and plotting to attack Heathrow airport met with surprise and dismay in London and Washington yesterday, with officials describing the Pakistani computer engineer as a "significant individual".

Pakistan's supreme court heard this week that Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, 28, from Karachi, had returned home after three years' detention at the hands of Pakistan's intelligence agencies. His lawyer, Babar Awan, said that all charges had "gone with the wind".

The media has been prevented from interviewing Mr Khan, who remains under tight surveillance. His low-key release contrasted with the clamor that followed his capture in July 2004, which authorities celebrated as a big blow for al-Qaida.

Mr Khan was alleged to have been the conduit for scrambled email communications between the al-Qaida leaders in the tribal belt and the outside world.

A seized laptop contained a "treasure trove" of intelligence, officials said, describing blueprints of potential targets for al-Qaida, in Britain and the US, including photographs and plans of Heathrow airport and underpasses in London.

His arrest led British police and security service officers to Dhiren Barot, who was imprisoned last year for 40 years for planning a bombing campaign, including a plan to fill expensive cars with explosives and gas cylinders, park them in car parks beneath buildings and then detonate them. It also led to the capture of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian who allegedly helped bomb American embassies in Africa in 1998.

Mr Khan was reported to have told Pakistani officials about a terrorist network in Britain and how he often relayed messages from Pakistan to the leader of the British cell, described as a top al-Qaida operative. His release appeared to be a reward for cooperation.

But officials in London expressed disappointment at the release, with one describing Mr Khan as a "significant individual". US officials and analysts said they were dismayed at his release.

"I find it strange and baffling," said Seth Jones, of the Rand Corporation, a Washington thinktank. "It is also deeply reprehensible since Khan was involved in training al-Qaida operatives. He presents a major threat to the west."

But human rights activists questioned whether Mr Khan was really a terrorist mastermind as portrayed. "If he is so dangerous a suspect in the war on terror then why has he not been charged for the last three years?" said Ali Dayan Hasan, of Human Rights Watch.

Mr Khan's release in mid-July was all the more puzzling considering the Pakistani government's claims about his seniority in al-Qaida. In his autobiography published last year, Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, describes an unnamed al-Qaida operative with an identical profile to that of Mr Khan as the organization's "information technology chief in Pakistan".

President Musharraf said the man had been recruited by the 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Shaikh Muhammad, had trained a 12-man suicide squad intended to hit US interests around the world, and conducted reconnaissance of Heathrow airport in preparation for a possible attack.

Now Mr Khan, believed to be living with his parents in Karachi, is subject to speculation that he was an al-Qaida double agent, or had been "turned" by the Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency. But his release also comes amid unprecedented action by Pakistan's supreme court, which is pressing the government to locate hundreds of people detained without trial. One former intelligence official told the BBC that Mr Khan's story was a "murky tale" in which there were "no clear answers".