Malaysian police have arrested two Malaysians and one Pakistani in connection with last month’s deadly bombing at a shrine in Bangkok.Police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said they were detained a few days ago and were assisting with the investigation.Thailand has launched a manhunt for those responsible for the bombing which killed 20 people and injured 120.Thai police have arrested two people and are searching for a third man, said to be from China’s Xinjiang region. Mr Khalid told reporters on Monday that the three suspects are a Pakistani man, a Malaysian man, and a Malaysian woman, who were arrested based on a tip-off from Thai authorities.He said the suspects would not yet be transferred to Thailand, as Malaysian police are still investigating. He did not give further details on the reason for their detention. No group has stepped forward to claim responsibility for the attack at the Erawan shrine on 17 August, but Thailand has alleged that a network which includes foreigners was behind the bombing. Thai authorities had broken a human trafficking ring run by them. Initially also the authorities pointed towards the Uighurs because Thai officials had sent back 100 wanted Uighurs to China. We do not know what connection the arrested Malaysians and Pakistani have to the Uighurs who are thought to be behind the attack but one thing is certain: we are now looking at a new brand of international terrorism, one that does not recognise any kind of borders or nationalities.No place seems safe anymore. Tourism centres are now often scenes of bloodshed and rampage, and foreign fighters seem to be behind attacks against different targets the world over. Just like we are seeing the huge influx of willing recruits to the cause of groups like Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria, what stops us from thinking that Pakistanis too can leave for training with similar groups? It could be that the Uighur militants hired these detained individuals to do their bidding. So far, little is known about their involvement but the mere fact that foreigners have been arrested in connection with the Bangkok bombing should be warning enough for us to realise that this phenomenon has many players that stretch across different nations and affiliations. It would be foolish to think now that Pakistani militants will only carry out terror attacks in Pakistan and Iraqi militants in Iraq for example. We have a world that is overflowing with militant ideologies and radical thought, the kind of ideas that respect no barriers, nationalities or people. There is huge outreach when it comes to militant planning but the law and order response is still limited to individual countries. This kind of militancy demands an international architecture of intelligence and patrol, jurisdiction and infiltration, but that is extremely difficult considering that many countries — even the US — continue to support such elements in proxy warfare, e.g. rebel forces in Iraq and Syria. There are so many mixed signals and vested interests that the response to international terror appears disjointed and half-hearted.
pk.shafaqna.com
