Students tell of humiliation by British police

Students tell of humiliation by British police
Pakistani students detained in a well-publicized April terror crackdown in northwest England say they were imprisoned with criminals charged with murder.

Tariq Rehman, apparently the first to be sent home, told reporters in brief comments at the Islamabad airport that he had suffered "mental torture" and humiliation in a British prison.

He added that his fellow detainees, who were also accused of extremism, were also treated like hardened criminals in British detention.

"Even our Korans and prayer mats were searched using dogs and we repeatedly protested at this."

"I have been arrested just because I am a Muslim and I belong to Pakistan," a visibly distressed and disappointed Tariq said.

Tariq's counsel, Amjad Malik, told the media that Pakistani authorities had cleared his client of all charges.

According to Malik, the Pakistani students were suspected of involvement in extremist activities, which he said could not be defined as "fasting, going to prayers, keeping a beard, anything, could be (termed) Islamist extremism. So we don't know really."

Twelve Pakistanis students in Britain were arrested in dramatic daytime operations across England in early April.

British Premier Gordon Brown said at the time of the arrests that the police had uncovered "a very big terrorist plot".

The arrests, however, strained relations between London and Islamabad, especially after the British police failed to produce hard evidence to back up their terror charges.

After the charges were dropped for lack of evidence, Tariq and the other students were kept in detention on the grounds that they constituted a national threat.

British authorities insisted on deporting the Pakistani students despite the charges having been dropped against them.

Zimbabwe PM in US to restore aid

Zimbabwe PM in US to restore aid
Zimbabwean PM Morgan Tsvangirai held high level meetings with the IMF, the World Bank and US Secretary of State to restore aid for his troubled country.

Tsvangirai says he is not walking around with a begging bowl in his hands, but is trying to re-establish ways and means of re-engaging with the West.

But no aid money is going to Zimbabwe anytime soon, as long as there are no reforms. The best Tsvangirai can do now is to plead for aid to speed up constitutional reforms to allow the country to have free and fair elections, Economist Luke Zunga said on Thursday after Tsvangirai held talks with the IMF and the World Bank.

No details of his talks with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been released.

In his meeting with the US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday, both discussed the prospects for restoring substantial US aid to the troubled country.

"I'm anxious to hear about the plans and the work that your government is undertaking and to look for ways that we appropriately can be supportive," Clinton told Tsvangirai.

The US has not yet committed whether it will offer developmental aid to Zimbabwe. US officials say the country's democratic and economic reforms must be enacted before aid is restored.

Tsvangirai is due to meet with President Barack Obama on Friday on his first official trip abroad that is to include meetings in Europe with British, French, German and other leaders in his quest for support for reconstruction of his economically battered land.