ISLAMABAD, Sept 29: Indonesian diplomats said on Monday that they would decide this week whether to press the government to deport six students of their country held on suspicion of terror links.

A team of four Indonesian investigators is expected to arrive here on Tuesday to question the students, including Rusman Gunawan, the brother of alleged top terrorist Hambali, who were among 19 southeast Asians rounded up this month in raids on religious schools in Karachi.

“We will discuss deportation when the team is here. We will respect Pakistani law,” the Indonesian embassy’s consular affairs chief Dindin Wahyudin told AFP.

The students are being held for alleged activities against Pakistani interests but have not yet been charged.

Intelligence officials believe the 19 were a “sleeper cell” of the Jemaah Islamiyah, which is blamed for bomb attacks in Indonesia, and are investigating whether they were planning attacks inside or beyond Pakistan. They are also trying to establish how far their network extended in the country.

Mr Wahyudin said the authorities had not informed the embassy why the Indonesians were arrested. “Before these arrests we had no idea, because according to our data these students had no criminal background,” he said and added that there had been no prior request from Jakarta to arrest the six.

“Indonesian police had no negative or criminal data on these students; they’re just ordinary students,” he said.

The foreign ministry said investigations into the students should be completed by next week. “Investigations...are at an advanced stage, they’ll be wrapped up in a week,” a spokesman told a press briefing.

He said there was an “in-principle decision” to deport the detainees after inquiries.—AFP