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Pakistan may seek Junaid Babar’s extradition

By Maqbool Ahmed

KARACHI: The Pakistani government is contemplating a move to seek the extradition of a US informant who told a British court on March 30 that he was involved in two plots to assassinate President General Pervez Musharraf and had bought guns, ammunition and grenades to carry out the killing.

Mohammad Junaid Babar, a Pakistan-born American, said the first plot was in early 2002 and the second was planned for Eid in 2003. The 31-year-old is the main prosecution witness at the London trial of seven Britons who are accused of planning bomb attacks in the UK. Police describe the case as Britain’s biggest terrorism trial since the Sept 11 attacks on the United States.

“Since the man has confessed to conspiring to attack our president, our investigators would like to question him and he may be needed to be prosecuted here in Pakistan,” said an official of the ministry of interior while talking to Daily Times on the phone from Islamabad.

The official, who wished not to be named, said no formal request has so far been drafted but there was a discussion going on and there was a strong possibility that Pakistan would make a formal request to the US and UK governments to hand over Junaid once the trial in London ended. Babar, who has said he was the men’s accomplice, and has admitted to terrorism-related offences back in the United States in connection with the allegations, told the court he was involved in two conspiracies to kill Musharraf.

Under cross-examination from defence lawyer Joel Bennathan, Babar said he had bought eight AK-47 machine guns, 5,000 rounds of ammunition and grenades for an assassination attempt in 2002. Babar, who has been granted immunity from prosecution over his testimony, agreed he would probably have been jailed for life in the United States had the plot been uncovered or would have received a potential death sentence in Pakistan had he been extradited there.

Bennathan suggested Babar was lying to make himself appear a more important witness. “Were it not for the plea agreement you would be at a risk of life imprisonment or possibly the death penalty,” he said. “Yes, if they had found out,” Babar replied, agreeing with the defence lawyer that he expected to gain more in the future from his deal with the FBI to give evidence. “You are telling lies to get yourself out of trouble, aren’t you?” Bennathan asked. Babar denied the suggestion. During his testimony, Babar has said how some of the British suspects had links to al Qaeda, had taken part in explosives training and had planned to smuggle detonators.

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