India-Pakistan: March 3, 2003

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The capture of al Qaeda chief planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and paymaster Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi on March 1st, along with their laptops and records, has provided police with a much more accurate understanding of how al Qaeda operates in Pakistan. While the information is shared with the United States, Pakistani police are interested in the extent to which all terrorist organizations are established in Pakistan. While many terrorist groups in Pakistan are not concerned with overthrowing the government (most of these want to throw Indians out of Kashmir or are fighting fellow Moslems over religious differences.) But al Qaeda considers the Pakistani government illegitimate and the police are anxious to find out how widespread the al Qaeda network is in Pakistan. Now they think they know and many more arrests are expected shortly.