October 26, 2003	Sunday	Sha’aban 29, 1424

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KARACHI, Oct 25: Pakistan has decided to deport 13 Malaysian students arrested last month in Karachi for suspected links to Islamic militants, a security official said on Saturday.

But the five detained Indonesia students, including Gun Gun Rusman Gunawan, brother of suspected top Al Qaeda operative Riduan Islamuddin alias Hambali, would remain under our investigation, said Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema, a senior official in the interior ministry.

“We have completed our investigation on the Malaysian students and now we have decided to hand them over to their country,” Mr Cheema told Reuters, adding that the students would be deported in the next couple of days.

“But there is no decision to expel Indonesian students, including Hambali’s brother,” he added. “Our investigations on them are still going on.”

Hambali, the suspected chief of Al Qaeda network in Southeast Asia, is accused of masterminding a string of attacks in the region, including last year’s deadly bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.