Word: bahawalpur
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...other observers are not convinced, and say that its fugitive leader, Masood Azhar, is believed to be somewhere in Waziristan. Nor is it clear if the Pakistan army has severed its links entirely with the outlawed terrorist group, as its presence in and around the southern Punjabi city of Bahawalpur grows undisturbed. A heavy concentration of madrasahs in the area has become a breeding ground for recruits who are then taken to South Waziristan and trained as suicide bombers...
...growth of Wahhabi institutions in traditionally Barelvi parts of Pakistan is not limited to Muridke. Punjab province has seen an explosion of radical mosques, madrasahs and schools, many around the southern cities of Bahawalpur and Multan. A resident of Bahawalpur describes a visible expansion of jihadi infrastructure, unchecked by government supervision. Camps modeled on the one at Muridke are being built in the city, and photographs of the construction sites show young men with AK-47 logos on their shirts. Graffiti on village walls in the region declare, "Jihad against unbelievers is mandatory. Break their necks and shake every bone...
...says India must ramp up its intelligence-gathering and -sharing capabilities, possibly by creating a specialist force to deal with terrorism. Without arrests or a claim of responsibility, even yesterday's bombing are likely to remain a mystery, he says. "We know that there are ... [terrorist] training camps in Bahawalpur in Pakistan across the border from Rajasthan. This looks like a pre-planned ISI [Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence unit] pattern: strike mosques on Fridays and Hindu temples on Tuesdays, Tuesday being the day when Lord Hanuman is worshiped. This attack was also well-designed and well-planned like...
...before British authorities rounded up 24 suspects in connection with the plot (one has since been released)--had close links with several known al-Qaeda supporters in Pakistan as well as with an Islamic militant who is one of India's most-wanted terrorists. Rauf's neighbors in Bahawalpur, the city where he lived after moving back to Pakistan in 2002, say he was constantly shuttling between his home and eastern Afghanistan, including the province of Paktia, a Taliban stronghold...
...further link, the father of Rauf's wife and her sister runs Darul Uloom Madina, one of Pakistan's biggest and most hardline seminaries, with some 2,000 students, in Bahawalpur, Azhar's hometown. Rauf's arrest in Bahawalpur was one of the events that prompted British police to swoop in on the suspected London conspirators last Thursday, for fear they would become suspicious if they lost contact with such a central figure in their plans...