More harm than good

IN refusing the Pakistan High Commission consular access to 11 Pakistani students arrested on the suspicion of involvement in bomb plots, the UK government has displayed a knee-jerk reaction that bodes ill for future cooperation in terms of controlling terrorism. The UK government, and in particular Prime Minister Gordon Brown, accuses Pakistan of not doing enough to curb terrorism. But given that both countries have a stake in this struggle, there is every reason to foster an environment of close and candid communication. By refusing access to the arrested Pakistanis, the UK government in effect has put impediments in the path of local authorities to investigate the suspected terrorists' links in this country and the wider network they may be part of.




The UK government's lack of cooperation also raises doubts about the credibility of evidence on the basis of which the men were arrested. It has already been reported that while British officials spoke of intelligence regarding the suspected terrorists' involvement in the plot, they admitted that this information could not be presented in court. This raises the possibility of the evidence having been improperly collected, in which case the arrested men are being punished - through arrest and probable deportation - without their guilt having been wholly proved. If, on the other hand, the 'evidence' is of such an incendiary nature that the risk of it being made public cannot be taken, Pakistani authorities have a right and a need to know since Islamabad is already deeply mired in the struggle to curb terrorism.




Given that the arrested men are Pakistani nationals and, reportedly, a decision has already been taken to deport them, the UK government is exposing itself to criticism for having violated their rights by denying Pakistan consular access to the students. Furthermore, the move sets a dangerous precedent for the security of thousands of other Pakistani students in the UK, who can now no longer depend with any confidence on their embassy's ability to intervene in case suspicion falls on any one of them. The UK government's move has about it the sinister echoes of the manner in which wartime prison camps are operated - infamous amongst them are the US camps established during the Bush years - where detainees are held incommunicado and outside the reach of their governments. Through this move, the UK damages its own reputation of subscribing to the values of fair play and does irreparable harm to those who, on currently available evidence, may well have been targeted on mere suspicion.