Conspiracy seen in al-Farouq's escape

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.