27 January 2004	Tuesday	04 Zilhaj 1424

LAHORE, Jan 26: The Special Investigation Group (SIG) of the Federal Investigation Agency, which was established last year to fight terrorism and undertake special assignments, has become functional across the country.

A SIG deputy-director, who requested not to be named, told this reporter on Monday that the group would coordinate with the intelligence agencies and police in performing various duties. "The group will adopt European style of working in which the services of any government department can be hired to pursue a particular case."

When asked whether the group was investigating the attempts on President Gen Pervez Musharraf's life, he said "it is meant to forestall and investigate any terrorist activity in the country."

He said around 40 FIA deputy directors, assistant directors and inspectors from all its centres had been taken in the group. Every FIA centre would be headed by a deputy-director, who would be reportable to the FIA director-general.

Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat told Dawn the other day that 40 personnel of police and intelligence agencies had also been taken in the group. He hoped that the group would help combat terrorist activities in the country.

The SIG, which was set up in June last, underwent an extensive four-month training by a team of FBI personnel at the FIA Training Academy in Islamabad. Officials of the intelligence agencies had also reportedly taken part in the training to improve their knowledge of intelligence gathering. The US personnel trained them on how to apply modern techniques and use scientific equipment as well as methods to sharpen their skills to forestall terrorist activities.

The FIA official said the SIG members would continue to be trained by foreign experts in future as well. The group, he said, might be developed into the FIA anti-terror cell (depending on its performance).

However, he said, more trained staff and huge money would be required for intelligence gathering through latest equipment. Sources said the SIG had an initial budget of Rs110 million and its agents would focus their efforts primarily on identifying and locating the 'most wanted' terrorists.

Besides combating terrorism, they said it would detect terror financing, investigate money laundering, combat corruption within law-enforcement agencies, manage crises and improve techniques for fingerprinting and interrogating.

They said the SIG personnel could be sent anywhere in the country if the government felt that a particular incident might be linked to international or trans-national terrorism.

The SIG personnel had also been empowered to arrest and interrogate suspected terrorists already named in the FIRs. The FIA's economic crime wing, it is learnt, would assist the SIG to investigate money laundering through banks, financial institutions and offshore accounts maintained by the suspected individuals and groups.

It would also work with the immigration wing to control the entry and exit of suspected terrorists from the country. The SIG, the sources said, would also have a legal cell to follow through cases from indictment to court trials at various levels of prosecution and appeals.