US investigating how five of its men landed in Pakistan

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Dec 11 (PTI) The US is investigating the
circumstances into how and why five of its young citizens
from Virginia landed up in Pakistan, as these men are accused
of being in touch with radicals for taking part in 'jihad'.
Arrested in Pakistan in its Punjab province on
Wednesday, Pakistani officials said these five American
Muslims had contacted radical jihadist organisations in
Pakistan.
"They are proudly saying, 'We are here for jihad,' "
Usman Anwar the Pakistani police chief whose officers
interrogated the men, was quoted as saying by The Washington
Post. However, the Obama Administration refrained from
arriving any conclusion till the time it completes its own
investigation in this regard.
When asked about possible jihadist links as news
reports from Pakistan indicated, Assistan Secretary of State
for public affairs P J Crowley said, "I think it's important
to emphasise at this point we are in an information gathering
phase, but we have met with them. We are working closely with
Pakistani authorities on this case."
State Department team with officials from both the
Embassy in Islamabad and the Consulate in Lahore met with the
five American citizens that have – that are in custody in
Pakistan and I would expect in the next 24 hours we'd have
further visits with these individuals, and including a visit
from consular officials who I expect will be on their way to
see them tomorrow, Crowley added.
Crowley said these five missing men were apprehended
by Pakistani authorities. "Today we've had access to them, an
opportunity to talk to them about the circumstances of their
travel to Pakistan.
I think this is indicative of the cooperation that
we have received with Pakistani authorities. We will continue
to investigate this together, share information.
Where this leads, we should just not draw any
conclusions at this point," he said.
On the possible jihadist links as news reports from
Pakistan indicated, Crowley said, "I know there is a lot of
conjecture being bandied about as to what they were about, who
they were associated with, what the implications are.
I would just kind of dampen that kind of conjecture
at this point. Reiterating that they are in the
information-gathering phase of this, he said, "We have drawn
no conclusions. All we really know is that these individuals
were in the United States until recently, they made their way
to Pakistan.
And beyond that, we are trying to talk to them, find
out what they were up to, what the implications are.
And we should let the investigation go forward
before we draw any conclusions.
Meanwhile the Justice Department said the five
missing individuals from the Washington, DC area have been
located and are in the custody of Pakistani police.
"The five men were detained by Pakistani authorities
on December 9, 2009, after they came to the attention of
police," it said in a statement.
The men were detained without incident and four
were found to have US Passports.
An FBI Special Agent and two other US government
officials from the Embassy have spoken with some of the men.
Although positive identification is still pending,
the FBI believes they are the missing individuals," the
Justice Department said.
"The FBI was attempting to locate these individuals
after learning of their disappearance. Discussions concerning
their possible return to the United States are still
underway," the statement said.
The State Department official said as of now the
Administration has reached no conclusions as to the
circumstances surrounding their travel from the United States
to Pakistan.
"They now are safely in the custody of Pakistani
officials, and we are going to find out how they made their
way from Washington, DC, to Pakistan, why there were there,
what their intentions were.
At this point, we’ve reached no judgments beyond –
we obviously now are beginning to talk to them, to gather
information," Crowley said. PTI LKJ
ANU