The search for the US journalist Daniel Pearl, kidnapped in January in Karachi, capital of Sind province, became a murder hunt after it was officially announced on Feb. 22 that US consular officials had been handed a videotape that included a scene of Pearl’s “execution” by having his throat cut. Pearl’s body was then shown beheaded.
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Pakistan’s President Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf described the killing as “a barbaric murder” and promised an all-out hunt for the Islamic extremists believed to have been responsible, but by the end of the month neither they nor Pearl’s body had been found. As late as Feb. 13, Musharraf had stated that he felt “reasonably sure” that Pearl was still alive, despite an e-mail having been sent on Feb. 1 claiming that he was already dead. Pearl had been kidnapped while investigating links between Pakistani militants and the UK citizen Richard Reid, the alleged “shoebomber” who was accused of attempting to bring down a US airliner.
The most significant breakthrough in the case came in the announcement on Feb. 12 that the Pakistani police had arrested Ahmad Omar Sayeed Shaikh, aged 28, a UK national named by police on Feb. 6 as a suspect in the kidnapping. Shaikh had been named by three men who were already under arrest having been accused of sending e-mails of the kidnappers’ demands. When Shaikh appeared in court on Feb. 14 he admitted responsibility for the kidnapping and said that—“as far as I understand”—Pearl was dead. This apparently contradicted a statement he had previously made to the police that Pearl was still alive. Shaikh also claimed in court that he had given himself up to the police on Feb. 5, which was later admitted by Pakistani officials. Shaikh said that he did not think that Pakistan should be “catering to American needs”, which was taken to refer to Musharraf’s support for the US-led campaign in Afghanistan and the “war against terrorism”.
It was reported on Feb. 27 that Musharraf had agreed in principle to a US request to extradite Shaikh to the USA, but only after Pakistan had concluded its own investigations. US ambassador to Pakistan Wendy Chamberlin revealed on Feb. 25 that the USA had requested Shaikh’s extradition even before the kidnapping of Pearl because of his involvement in kidnappings in the 1990s. The US State Department on Feb. 27 offered a US$5 million reward for information leading to Pearl’s killers.
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