Shafiq ur Rahman, a 28-year-old maulvi from Oldham near Manchester, has been issued with a deportation order by the UK government on the grounds that he is an extremist, whose activities are a threat to UK national security. Rahman, who came to Britain in 1993, has appealed against the order.

The UK government's case against Shafiq ur Rahman, based largely on `secret' intelligence, is that he is a representative of Markaz dawa al Irshad (MID), which is the political wing of the terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Toyaba (LT), said to be responsible for the deaths of many Indian soldiers in Kashmir. They claim that he ``was pro-actively and regularly involved in recruiting (British Muslims) for jehad training'' and collected ``thousands of pounds'' for the MID/LT.

At the appeal hearing in Londonit emerged that the UK internal intelligence agency MI5 had attempted to recruit Rahman as a spy in 1997. An MI5 officer, identified only as Witness I, told the court that this had indeed been the plan and would have been ``very good if it had worked''. Rahman declined the offer. His lawyers suggested that the reason the UK government is seeking to deport him is because he was unwilling to ``spy on his own congregation'' on their behalf.

Shibghatullah Kadri, QC for Rahman also suggested that the decision to deport Rahman is a `political' one and is due to pressure from the Indian government. He argued that the LT was fighting against ``Indian occupation.'' He suggested that by calling it a terrorist organisation there was a presumption on the part of the authorities here that Kashmir was a sovereign part of India -- Britain officially refers to it as ``disputed territory''.

This case and its outcome are of keen interest to India since they focus attention on important issues: the UK government's attitudeto Muslim extremists raising funds and recruiting fighters for Kashmir in Britain and its attitude to Pakistan's support for these militant groups and their war in Kashmir.

Rahman has not denied his links with MID, or that he supports the Mujahideen cause in Kashmir. He told the court today that his employers Jamiatahle e Hadith (JaH), and MID/LT were closely linked. He said: ``They have different names, but are the same school of thought''. He also said that he had sent money to MID but insisted that it was spent only on education and health work. He also confirmed that he had given letters of reference to British youth -- who wanted to go to Pakistan for Islamic education and jehad training at institutions run by JaH.

Kadri argued that MID/LT are not banned in the UK and working for them is not illegal. He drew attention to the fact that the UK government appeared to have no problem with other members of the brotherhood. Lord Nazir Ahmed, the Labour peer and active campaigner on the Kashmir issue was,the court heard, on the executive committee of the JAH, which employed Rahman and controlled 40 mosques in the UK. Rahman told the court that both Tony Blair and Home Secretary Jack Straw had participated in functions where Lord Nazir was present as a JaH member.

Kadri also told the court that the Pakistan government openly supported MID/LT. He suggested that the UK government has done so indirectly. He drew the courts attention to the fact that Lashkar-e-Toyba had fought in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo on the same side as the US, UK and NATO. That former UK Prime minister Margaret Thatcher had gone to the Afghanistan border to congratulate LT fighters for the good job they had done against the communists was proof enough of UK's support, he claimed. The case continues, unravelling the complex web of what does and does not constitute national security and terrorism.