Identity of Indian terror suspect arrested in Australia being ascertained: Mukherjee

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said that the Indian High Commission in Australia has been instructed to ascertain the identity of the Indian doctor arrested in that country in connection with the terror plots in London and Glasgow, Scotland.

By Pankaj Chaudhry

Dubai Airport, July 3 : External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said that the Indian High Commission in Australia has been instructed to ascertain the identity of the Indian doctor arrested in that country in connection with the terror plots in London and Glasgow, Scotland.

Speaking to ANI here while en route to Ethiopia for a three-day official visit, Mukherjee said: "We have to ascertain the identity of this person who has been arrested. He (the doctor) tried to contact somebody in India. We have instructed our mission (in Canberra) to ascertain the identity of the person. Investigations are on."

Mukherjee's remarks came even as British and Australian Police confirmed the arrest of eight people in connection with failed car bombings in Glasgow and London, and added that all of them were linked with Britain's National Health Service (NHS).

Seven of the eight were believed to be doctors or medical students, while one formerly worked as a laboratory technician.

Australian media have identified the eighth man held in Brisbane as Dr Mohammed Haneef, 27, who formerly worked in Cheshire.

He was detained while trying to board a plane to India. A second doctor is also being interviewed in Australia.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Australian police had acted on information from the British authorities.

The man detained at Brisbane airport was an Indian national who had been trying to return to India with a one-way ticket, he added.

Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said police had executed search warrants at the Gold Coast Hospital in Southport, Eastern Queensland - where the detained doctor worked as a registrar - and at other locations across the state.

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said the detained man had been working at the hospital since September, and that he had been based in Liverpool when he answered an advert in the British Medical Journal in March 2006.

Dr Haneef is known to have previously worked at Halton Hospital in Runcorn, Cheshire.

Beattie said police was interviewing a second doctor, also recruited from Liverpool.

British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said police investigating the attacks have searched 19 locations. These included properties in Houston, near Glasgow; Merseyside and two addresses in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.

Commenting on the forthcoming presidential elections, Mukherjee rejected Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani's idea that there are no issues in the polls.

"The presidential election is not like the Lok Sabha elections where issues are raised. This is an election of high decorum," he said.

He also said that the vilification of UPA candidate Pratibha Patil was "totally uncalled for, totally unjustified and nothing should be done like that. But unfortunately, what can be done about it."

Regarding the suspended Christie's auction of a letter written by Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, 19 days before his assassination on January 30, 1948, Mukherjee said: "The Indian Government is going to buy the manuscript." But he refused to reveal at what cost the prized letter would be procured.

On his impending visit to Ethiopia, the Minister said that India enjoyed very good bilateral relations with that African country, and added that he would be using his three-day tour to cement those ties further. He also said that he would be addressing Indian envoys based in African countries, besides inking and witnessing the signing of a series of bilateral pacts.

ANI