KARACHI, Pakistan, Feb 01, 2002 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- The kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was a friend of Arabs and Muslims and often supported their cause, says a former editor of the Asian edition of the newspaper.
"You have got the wrong guy," said Kenneth Neil Cukier, in an article published in Pakistani newspapers on Friday. "Freeing him unharmed is in your interest."
Appealing for his release, Pearl's former boss said "the Arab and Muslim world has no greater in American media than Danny Pearl."
The 38-year reporter is newspaper's bureau chief in Bombay, India, but had moved to Karachi, Pakistan, temporarily after the Sept. 11 attacks to report on the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
"In his reporting, he's uncovered cases where U.S. foreign policy and military intervention has been misguided, with terrible consequences on the lives of people. Rather than being a spy, as he is wrongly accused of by his captors, Pearl's reporting at times has cast the U.S. in a negative light," Cukier wrote.
"In a series of major front-page articles in 1998 Pearl ... suggested that the U.S. bombing of a factory in Sudan that the U.S. claimed made chemical weapons was unfounded. Evidence that Pearl discovered suggested the plant made pharmaceutical drugs, and that America had acted wrongly."
Cukier described it as "ironic" that would be considered a CIA spy because "his work was critical of U.S. actions, not congratulatory."
He said Pearl was kidnapped last week from Karachi while "seeking to interview leaders of Islamic groups -- trying to publicize the views of the Muslim world."
His captors, a group called "The National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty," boasts that he is being treated inhumanely, to protest the conditions of around 150 Taliban and al Qaida prisoners detained by the U.S. in Cuba.
The U.S. government considers them "unlawful combatants" rather than "prisoners of war," which would give them certain rights under the Geneva Convention.
But by kidnapping Pearl, Cukier said, the group undermines its own objective as it would bring negative publicity and damage their cause.
"Pearl's reporting gave publicity to the perspectives of groups like The National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty. Now, the group, and their complaint, looks illegitimate," said Cukier.
"Pearl revealed cases of U.S. errors and the issues facing the Middle East not because he has a grudge or self-interest, but because he is objective and wishes to tell stories that need to be told. He is not a spy, but a neutral observer seeking to reveal the truth."
Meanwhile, Pakistani authorities have taken the father of one of the suspects, Mohammed Hashim, into custody.
He told authorities that his son couldn't have been involved, because he had already been killed in Afghanistan when he was to arrange a meeting with Pearl. Police say they are investigating his claims.
Also, Mubarak Gilani, head of Jamaatul Fugra, has turned himself into authorities. He said he had no role in Pearl's disappearance and that is group was not a terrorist group, but a religious organization.
By SHAHID IQBAL
Copyright 2002 by United Press International.