LONDON // The UK government was last night considering a far-reaching clampdown on thousands of Pakistani students coming to the country each year, in a bid to stop al Qa'eda terrorists sneaking into the country. The move followed the disclosure that 11 of the 12 terror suspects arrested in north-west England on Wednesday - 10 of whom were in the UK on student visas - were from Pakistan. Questioning of the suspects, who were thought to be planning a series of suicide bombings in Manchester in the coming week, continued yesterday, along with searches of homes in the area. Police sources have suggested that two shopping centres, a public square and a nightclub had been earmarked for attacks, which officers believe had been masterminded by al Qa'eda in Pakistan.
"We are dealing with a very big terrorist plot," said prime minister Gordon Brown. "We know that there are links between terrorists in Britain and terrorists in Pakistan. Mr Brown said he had spoken with Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, by telephone on Thursday night to discuss the operation.His office said they agreed that Britain and Pakistan "share a serious threat from terrorism and violent extremism", and had committed to "work together to address this common challenge". Each year, about 10,000 Pakistani students arrive in the UK to pursue higher education. Government figures show that, even after they have completed their studies, 98 per cent who apply to remain in the country are successful in prolonging their stay. Tougher criteria have been introduced recently but, yesterday, the demands for much more stringent tests were growing. Sadiq Khan, the community cohesion minister, said: "We've changed the rules so you've got to have applied to come to a registered university or college before you can come and you have your fingerprints taken and you are biometrically tested."
However, the demand now is for background checks to be carried out to see if student visa applicants have any links to terrorists. This would be a mammoth task but Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary, is demanding that the government "urgently step up" checks on students from countries linked to terror. "The government admits that student visas are a major loophole in our border controls," he said. "Given these revelations, we need to urgently step up monitoring of applications from parts of the world where we face terror issues." Wajid Shamsul Hasan, the Pakistani high commissioner in London, said his country was willing to assist in checks but they were not allowed to do so. "If they allow us to make inquiries first, if they ask us to scrutinise those people who are seeking visas, we can help them. "But they have their own regime. They go through a lot of questions and points systems. Unfortunately in every system certain mistakes are made," he told the BBC. Shahid Aslam, a British employment solicitor who runs an immigration consultancy in Lahore, said endemic corruption within the visa system made it vulnerable to abuse. He said that anybody with money and who had registered with a college in UK could get a student visa. "They have clamped down on bogus colleges in England. But the problem is that there is so much corruption that the measures are ineffective. They can change the rules but they need to get to the bottom of the corruption." A spokesman for the High Commission referred enquiries of alleged corruption in their visa process to the Home Office in London. dsapsted@thenational.ae * Additional reporting by Isamabard Wilkinson in Islamabad
