Posted on 02/22/2002 6:35:12 AM PST by henbane
Siddharth Srivastava
Times News Network
Friday,February 22, 2002 2:32:51 PM
NEW DELHI: The brutal way in which WSJ journalist Daniel Pearl was murdered is a clear indication of the involvement of the terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed, which is headed by Masood Azhar and Omar Sheikh, say senior security officials with the Intelligence Bureau.
Pearl's throat was slit from behind by his abductors and, going by media reports, he was subsequently beheaded.
This is similar to the manner which 27-year-old Norwegian Hans Ostro was beheaded by Al Faran terrorists in July 1995 and the way Rupen Katyal, one of the passengers in the hijacked Indian Airlines aircraft IC 814 was killed in December 1999.
That the Al Faran was a front of the Jaish—which, at that time, was called the Harkat-ul-Ansar—was confirmed when the kidnappers demanded the release of Azhar, who was incarcerated in an Indian jail at that time.
The Al Faran had kidnapped Ostro in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir, along with five other foreigners.
The Narasimha Rao government in 1995 did not give in to the demands of the hijackers. Ostro's body was subsequently found beheaded with 'Al Faran' engraved on his body.
The hijackers of IC 814 too demanded the release of Azhar, and this time, the Atal Behari Vajpayee government gave in due to the pressure exerted by the families of the hostages. During the course of the hijack, Katyal's throat too was slit from behind and he bled to death.
According to officials, the similarity in the killing of Pearl, Ostro and Katyal indicates that the terrorists have been trained in a similar manner and, therefore, belong to the same outfit.
"One of the six foreigners kidnapped by the Al Faran in 1995, an American John Childs who managed to escape from captivity said that the terrorists used psychological torture against them. One of the means was slitting the throat of a sheep in front of the hostages," says an official.
Similaties have already been drawn between an earlier kidnapping of four foreign citizens in India and Pearl's abduction. Sheikh [Omar] is the prime suspect in the abduction.
The pictures of Pearl that were earlier released to the media had shown him handcuffed with newspaper cuttings in the background.
This was similar to the pictures of hostages that were released by Sheikh in India. Sheikh too had demanded the release of Azhar. The four hostages, however were lucky to be rescued after a shoot-out with the security forces.
When will US demand their extradition into American custody?
Fox News this morning discussed the legal situation in Muslim law.
Evidently, capital punishment applies only to Muslim on Muslim crimes.
Seems that the death penalty for the kidnappers and killers of Pearl--a non-Muslim--is forbidden by the Muslim legal system.
Immediate extradition is essential if these savages are ever to be brought to Justice.
I didn't know that. If that's confirmed, then Musharraf will probably either have the law changed, or he will extradite the terrorists. He is very sensitive to our wishes at this time.
I would much rather have Pakistan conduct the executions. If these folks are extradited, it would be years, if ever, before we execute them.
George Bush’s continued stance that islam is a “religion of peace” is ridiculous and undermines his credibility. It’s time to call a spade a spade and declare a war on islam which is clearly an evil “religion” as are its followers.
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
When a Pakistani is murdered in the US, does Pakistan have any right to demand extradition of the accused?
I remember reading, shortly after that document that was carried by three of the hijackers came out, reading some place that some term for "slaughter" in that document was interpreted as mandating slitting the throats of victims on the planes (as was done by the hijackers.)
it's time to tell the the paki's we're taking over the hunt....move over or get run over....
As I understand it, shooting is for military transgressions. These murderers aren't military, they're savages and deserve to be treated as such. Where it happens matters not to me.
The Vajpayee government has it's share of responsibility in this too.
Best solution i have heard all day. except that i would have his throat slit right after the viewing of tapes
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