Conspiracy seen in al-Farouq's escape

Blontank Poer, The Jakarta Post, Surakarta/Jakarta

Reports of the escape of Omar al-Farouq, a suspected al-Qaeda leader, from a U.S.-run detention facility in Afghanistan have created confusion and suspicion among some Muslim leaders here.

Zaenal Ma'arif, deputy speaker of the House of Representatives who hails from the Islamic-based Star Reform Party (PBR), was baffled as to how al-Farouq, who was captured in Indonesia in 2002 and subsequently handed over to the U.S. authorities, had escaped.

He suspected that "a certain group" with interests in Southeast Asia had arranged for the escape of al-Farouq in a bid to give power to terrorism in the region.

He declined to name the group.

"It is possible that there is a bigger scenario since Osama bin Laden is not that influential anymore," Zaenal said over the weekend, referring to the al-Qaeda terror network leader who remains at large.

He even said that the recent beheadings of three Christian schoolgirls in religiously divided Poso, Central Sulawesi was also arranged by the group to create security instability in Indonesia.

Zaenal urged the government to actively seeks explanations from the U.S. government on the escape of al-Farouq, believed to be the lieutenant of bin Laden and leader of al-Qaeda's Southeast Asia operation.

Al-Farouq was one of four suspected Arab terrorists to escape from the heavily fortified detention facility inside a U.S. base in Bagram, Afghanistan, in July.

Although the escape was widely reported at the time, al-Farouq was identified by an alias and the U.S. military only confirmed last week that he was among those who fled. The identity of the two other al-Qaeda leaders as well as a fourth man who escaped with them has not been revealed.

In response to the escape, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said last week that the government would increase security measures at home to prevent new terror attacks.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledged that it had yet to receive official notification from the U.S. government over al-Farouq's escape.

"There is no official notification yet from the U.S. to Indonesia via the ministry," said spokesman Yuri O. Thamrin as quoted by Antara on Saturday.

He added that the Indonesian Embassy in Afghanistan was in the process of seeking more information on the escape. He declined to provide further details.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) suspected that the escape of al-Farouq was arranged by the U.S. and Australian governments to maintain the terror issue in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country.

MMI spokesman Fauzan Al Anshori was quoted by Antara as saying that al-Farouq's escape could later be connected with Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, the leader of MMI, who is now imprisoned for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings, but is scheduled to be set free in June of 2006.

"We suspect there will be new stories to delay the release of Ba'asyir," Fauzan said.

Chairman of the Indonesian Muslim Brotherhood Movement (GPMI) Ahmad Sumargono said Indonesia must be alert to the possibility that the escape of al-Farouq was a political ploy.

"We must be alert. There is a possibility that this is an international conspiracy to keep terrorism alive in Indonesia," the former lawmaker told Antara.