Police await nod from Pakistan
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police are waiting for the green light from Pakistan to send a team to question five Indonesian students detained there on suspicion of terrorist links, Police chief Gen. Da'i Bahctiar says.
Da'i said, police could not yet send the team, as there was no guarantee that it would have access to the five students.
"We have set up a team, but we are still waiting. Indeed, we plan to include intelligence officers in the team but we still don't know when..." Da'i said after welcoming President Megawati Soekarnoputri and her entourage at the Halim Perdanakusumah airport in East Jakarta.
Megawati arrived home Sunday from a week-long visit to the United States, Tunisia, and Libya.
According to Da'i, the team would ensure that Indonesian students were treated well while in custody. The team would also investigate the activities of the students up until their arrests.
Six Indonesian students -- Rusman Gunawan alias Gun Gun, Ilham Sopandi, Furqon Abdullah, Muhammad Anwar Asshidiqie, David Pintarto, and Muhammad Saifuddin were rounded up by Pakistani authorities for their alleged links with regional terrorist network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI). One of the students, Saifuddin, was released last Thursday.
They were all students of the Abubakar Islamic University.
Gun Gun had admitted that he had aided his elder brother, top terrorist suspect Riduan Isamuddin alias Hambali by sending him US$50,000 in cash and compact discs a few months ago.
He, however, also denied links to any terrorist group.
The Indonesian police have questioned several people who were acquainted with Gun Gun and his friends.
"We have information, but not from Gun Gun himself," Da'i was quoted by Antara as saying Sunday.
Vice President Hamzah Haz said on Saturday that the release of Indonesian students from custody would take time.
"It is likely to take time. We, like any other country, must respect the law there. It could take two, three, five or more days ," he said in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, on Saturday.
Earlier, on Wednesday, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said his government could hand over the students to Indonesia if the latter so wished, but so far the Pakistani military had yet to give the go ahead.
Musharraf also discussed the issue with President Megawati Soekarnoputri at a luncheon for leaders of member countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in New York last week.
Haz said that the Foreign Affairs Ministry should use diplomatic channels to seek the release of the Indonesians.
"We should give them (Pakistani authorities) time to interrogate the students. If there is no evidence (on their alleged link with a terrorist group), they should be released to avoid tensions between us (Indonesia and Pakistan)," Haz said.
The Vice President reaffirmed that the Indonesian students had not been arrested at the request of the Indonesian police, but purely on the Pakistani authorities' initiative.