By ZAHID HUSSAIN
ISLAMABAD—Pakistan's military said Tuesday it has arrested a brigadier general for his alleged radical Islamic connections as the nation's powerful armed forces face the growing threat of an Islamist backlash within their ranks.Brig. Gen. Ali Khan, who served at army headquarters in Rawalpindi near Islamabad, was detained in the aftermath of the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden in early May, an army spokesman said. He is the highest-ranking officer to be arrested for alleged connections to Islamic militants who are suspected of trying to infiltrate Pakistan's military.
An army spokesman said Brig. Gen. Khan was posted at headquarters two years ago and was believed to be associated with Hizb ut-Tahrir, an outlawed radical Islamic group. The group, which has roots in the Middle East and has also been active in Britain, clandestinely dropped pamphlets in military cantonments after the bin Laden raid calling on soldiers to rise against the military leadership. It accused Pakistan's military leaders of being complicit in the U.S. operation. It also called for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate.
"The military has zero tolerance for any such activity and strict disciplinary action will be taken against those involved," said Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the chief military spokesman. It isn't clear how many more arrests were made in connection with the pamphlet probe. Brig. Gen. Khan isn't believed to have played a role in any sheltering bin Laden received in the garrison town of Abbottabad, where he was killed last month.
Brig. Gen. Khan, 59 years old, is said to have a brilliant service record and comes from a family with three generations of military service. His father was a junior commissioned officer and one of his brothers is a colonel serving in military intelligence. One of his sons and a son-in-law also are army officers.
Brig. Gen. Khan couldn't be reached to comment.
A senior intelligence official said some low-level officers and soldiers could also be involved with militant groups linked to al Qaeda.
Pakistani security agencies have arrested several naval personnel who were believed to have helped last month's raid by militants on a key naval airbase in the southern port city of Karachi. In a 16-hour siege, the militants destroyed two U.S.-made Orion maritime surveillance aircraft and killed 10 personnel.
Analysts said the pamphlets and the raid on the naval base had highlighted the level of infiltration of the armed forces by al Qaeda and its affiliates. At least two army officers were court-martialed last year for links to Hizb ut-Tahrir.
The covert U.S. raid that killed bin Laden has inflamed anti-U.S. sentiment in the military, making staff more amenable to the influence of radical Islam, analysts said, warning that the danger of a full-scale revolt is growing as Islamist groups seek to exploit low morale. The credibility of the military is at its lowest point since the defeat in the war against India in 1971.
Pakistan has been under increasing pressure from the U.S. to crack down on militant sanctuaries in the border areas with Afghanistan and cut all ties with extreme Islamist networks. Relations between Pakistan and the U.S. have nose-dived as Pakistan's army felt humiliated by the perceived violation of sovereignty of the bin Laden raid and the discovery that the world's most-wanted man had lived undetected in a high-security zone.
The covert American raid has also brought Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, the chief of army staff, under huge pressure from the officers opposed to any further cooperation with the U.S. Gen. Kayani has been touring garrisons to rally support, but has been confronted by angry officers.