Rauf went to offer prayers, escaped through back door

Some reports suggested that the car was being driven by Rauf’s uncle Muhammad Rafiq, who accompanied him into the mosque and disappeared along with him.

Musharraf spoke to caretaker Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz Khan on Monday and sought a detailed report on the escape. Khan said a high-level committee is already probing the matter and a report will be submitted by Tuesday, officials said. The President said action should be initiated against any police official found to be involved in the matter.

Police have questioned Rauf’s kin at Mirpur in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the Federal Investigation Agency is keeping a watch on exit points across the country.

Rauf has been linked to al-Qaeda and is married to a relative of JeM founder Maulana Masood Azhar.

News reports said the two policemen guarding Rauf, Constables Wazirzada and Muhammad Tufail, allowed him to travel from Islamabad, where he had been brought to appear in a court, to the jail in Rawalpindi in a private car.

Rauf asked the policemen to let him stop at a restaurant where his uncle bought food for all of them. He then asked to be allowed to offer afternoon prayers at a mosque and fled along with his uncle.