Butt, was arrested by Pakistani police on the suspicion of inciting violence in the country. On 12 December 2014, Pakistani police arrested 12 more activists of HT. Pakistani author Ahmed Rashid writes in Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia, that there are "strong links and cooperation between the rank and file" of Hizb ut-Tahrir and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan especially when they are from the same village or town. However, according to Jean-François Mayer of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the insinuation "that the party will turn violent and has links with the IMU" is inaccurate; the comments attributed to a member "contradicted the party's ideas". Representatives of Hizb ut-Tahrir report that they have repeatedly attempted to contact Ahmed Rashid in order to make their views known, but say they have not succeeded. They are even considering writing a rebuttal of his book. In August 2012, a Brigadier and three majors in the Pakistan Army were convicted of being members of Hizb-ut-Tahrir (a banned organisation), the first time that senior army officers in Pakistan had been convicted and jailed over associations with banned organizations. The officers had allegedly attempted to recruit officers to their group "including the commander of the army's 111 Brigade, which covers the capital and has been historically linked to army coups." Taji-Farouki describes HT as "operating openly despite" a 2003 ban. In early 2016, Dawn reported a crackdown on HT. Western countries In Germany and Denmark, HT's "hostility to democratic institutions and its refusal to recognise Israel's right to exist has caused legal problems" according to Jean-Pierre Filiu. In France and Spain, as of 2008, HTs cells were illegal and the authorities were keeping the party under close surveillance. While HT's ideology and strategy are centralised, localities have different strategic action plans, so that for example when it comes to international situations, the Danish branch focuses on the Arab-Israeli issue because in Denmark the Muslim population is primarily of Arab descent while the British branches focus on Indian issues because in Britain Muslims are primarily of Indian descent. Australia Hizb ut-Tahrir has been involved in a number of controversies in Australia but has been "clever at knowing how to be outrageous enough to get media attention but not get arrested", according to one observer (Greg Barton). Another observer (Irfan Yusuf) claims HT and anti-immigrant politicians "feed off each other's hysteria".