Five arrested in UK under anti-terror Laws     
'Pakistan Times' UK Bureau

LONDON: Five men were arrested in dawn raids in Britain Tuesday under anti-terrorism laws, including two British Pakistanis, police and reports said.

Two men, aged 25 and 29, were detained in Halifax, West Yorkshire, in northern England, "on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism," London's Metropolitan Police said.

A further three suspects, two aged 24 and one 32-year-old, were arrested by anti-terror officers who raided four addresses in the city of Manchester, north-west England.

Police from the Met worked with colleagues from West Yorkshire to carry out the Halifax raids at around 6:00 a.m. (06:00 GMT).

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said the arrests came as part of an "intelligence-led operation" and stressed that the operation was not carried out by armed officers.

The men were arrested at separate houses in Halifax which are now being searched along with two other houses there and a London flat, she added.

They are now in custody and are set to be brought to a police station in London later Thursday.

Recruits in Afghanistan

Meanwhile, another reports says that British forces are backing plans to hand control of policing to tribal elders across Helmand Province in a series of 'peace deals' which could pave the way for a large-scale withdrawal of British troops.

A report from Kabul, carried by Daily Telegraph says that under the so-called "Helmand Protocols" based on the agreement which allowed British forces to withdraw from the Musa Qala district last year " tribal elders in districts across Helmand will have the right to propose their district and police chiefs and recruit their own police forces.

They will receive $500,000 per district in reconstruction aid, a total of $5 million across the province, in exchange for pledging loyalty to central government and promising to evict the Taliban.

Nabi Jan Mullah Khail, the Helmand police chief, said: "Most people absolutely welcome the protocols because they are absolutely fed up with the fighting going on around them."

The new series of deals are officially an arrangement between local tribal elders and the new Helmand provincial governor, Assadullah Wafa, backed by the Afghan central government.

However, the paper added that British military and civil officials are involved in the plans.

British forces hope that, if successful, the new deals could achieve the classic counter-insurgency objective of separating the population from the insurgents.

The strategy would also allow British forces to withdraw honorably from the “Platoon Houses" that have kept almost 50 per cent of British fighting troops in Helmand tied down and subject to Taliban attack since last summer.

That, in turn, would give the British a sizeable force to hunt Taliban leaders and secure reconstruction projects. Haji Mir Wali Khan, a Helmand MP, said he returned in a British helicopter from Helmand with the provincial governor three days ago after participating in the signing of the first deal with the tribal elders of Nawzad district.

Further deals are likely in Sangeen and Garmser districts. All have seen heavy fighting, which is reported to have displaced thousands of local people and caused widespread damage to local property.

"The government will get no trouble from the people and if it works there will be no place for the Taliban in the region and they will be eliminated easily," the MP said.●