Pakistani intelligence agencies believe terror suspect Rashid Rauf, who made a dramatic escape from his police guards last week, might sneak into Afghanistan to seek protection from his "former comrades" in the Taliban.
Authorities have launched a massive manhunt for Rauf, 26, who escaped on Saturday after his police guards allowed him to offer prayers at a mosque while he was being taken from Islamabad to nearby Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail, where he was being held following his arrest last year for alleged links to a plot to bomb US-bound airliners in Britain.
Rauf, who has been linked to al-Qaeda and is married to a relative of Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Maulana Masood Azhar, has dodged intelligence and law enforcement agencies since his escape. He remains untraced despite serious notice being taken of the matter by President Pervez Musharraf.
Intelligence agencies have "expressed strong fears" that Rauf might sneak into Afghanistan to seek protection from his "former comrades in the ranks of the Taliban in a bid to avoid his deportation" to Britain, where he is wanted for murder, The News reported .
Rauf might sneak out of Pakistan using the longer route via Quetta and it might not be possible for security agencies to capture him because it is "very difficult to man the 1,400-km long border between Pakistan and Afghanistan", the report said.
It also quoted sources as expressing "fears that Rauf could be found dead, simply because of the sensitivities involved in the case".
The sources said those who had managed him to escape might not allow him to land in the hands of the police alive.
A confidential report on the escape sent to Musharraf is believed to have criticised the "inefficiency of certain top officers of the Islamabad police for failing to understand the sensitivity of the whole matter", the report said.
A committee formed by the Interior Ministry to probe Rauf's escape has also concluded that he could not have escaped without the help of police.
In a major violation of rules, Rauf's guards removed his handcuffs and allowed his uncle to drive them in a private car for the journey from here to Rawalpindi.
The two policemen and Rauf's uncle have since been arrested and security agencies have focussed their search on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as Rauf's family belongs to Mirpur town in that region.
Pressure is mounting on Pakistan to trace Rauf, who was arrested last year in connection with a terrorist plot to bomb airliners flying from Britain to the US. Western law enforcement agencies believe Rauf knows a lot about the terrorist plot and might also be able to provide clues to trace those involved in the July 7, 2005 bomb attacks in London.
The British government, which has sought Rauf's extradition in connection with the probe into the murder of his uncle in Birmingham in 2002, has been in touch with Pakistani authorities to get information on the developments since his escape.