Posted on 02/02/2002 11:10:50 PM PST by Born in a Rage
ISLAMABAD: In a breakthrough of sorts in the kidnapping of US journalist Daniel Pearl, Pakistan police arrested a telephone caller who demanded a $2 million ransom from US consulate in Karachi and two others who have been sending e-mail messages to media offices over the fate of the kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter.
Disclosing this Pakistan's Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider told the resident correspondent of the Middle East Broadcasting Centre here in an interview that the person, who on Friday called the U.S. Consulate in Karachi demanding a two million dollar ransom for the release of Pearl has been arrested but declined to give his identity.
He said that arrested person has been shifted to Karachi where he will be interrogated by a joint team by American FBI and Pakistani officials.
"We have allowed the American FBI to take part both in the investigation and interrogation," he said.
He also said two suspects of sending e-mails to the "Wall Street Journal" for which Pearl worked and the other media organisations have also been rounded up in Karachi. "We thought that the e-mails were emanating from their houses," he said.
He said all the detained people are Pakistanis and they do not belong to any religious group. To a question about the threats by the kidnappers to kill the journalist, he said those people who wanted to kill him will not be the friends of Pakistan. "I hope it will not happen."
The interior minister said that some 3000 foreign journalists visited Pakistan during the Afghan war but no one was kidnapped despite the fact that they visited tribal areas, Pak-Afghan borders at Torkham and Chaman and other sensitive areas.
He said he is surprised as to why Pearl worked on a shoe bomber story, which was already finished after the arrest of the principal accused who is now facing trials.
"The American journalist hired a big bungalow in Karachi on Rs 40,000 monthly rent to cover the story. He met people at secret and wrong places. I think he fell prey in wrong hands", he said.
Replying to a question he said president General Pervez Musharraf has taken several measures to combat religious extremism but this is not a short battle to fight these elements."The battle will be long. By and large the situation is under control".
Pakistan, he said, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States to strengthen security along western borders to deal with terrorism.
"The American will train and guide our personnel. They will provide us equipment we need to step up security at borders with Afghanistan. We want that no al-Qaeda suspect should come to Pakistan from Afghanistan. We have pushed al-Qaeda people back to Afghanistan who were arrested and taken to Cuba," he added.
Replying to a question he said that there was no Pakistani national in the American base at Cuba. He said Pakistan has taken up the issue with the Afghan government of the detained Pakistanis in Afghanistan.
Two held in Karachi
Pearl case: we are moving ahead, says Moin
Aroosa Alam
ISLAMABAD-In a dramatic disclosure Minister for Interior Moin-ud-Din Haider has claimed that law enforcement agencies in Karachi have apprehended two persons who had sent e-mails to the Wall Street Journal Friday night in connection with the kidnapping of American journalist Daniel Pearl.
In an exclusive interview with Pakistan Observer, the Minister said both the persons arrested from Karachi during the wee hours of Saturday are Pakistanis. Another person was picked up from Islamabad who had made a call to the US Embassy demanding two million dollar ransom and release of Mullah Zaeef in return of US journalist. ?We have been able to trace from where these e-mails were originated and two men in this connection have been arrested. They are currently being interrogated by joint investigating teams of Pakistan and FBI about their involvement,? said the Minister adding that yet another man has been arrested from Islamabad and handed over to Karachi police who made a telephone call.
?We are moving forward?, claimed the Minister saying that the two people arrested Friday night have sent these mails from their house and not from any net café. They used their own computer, which is also under custody. The three people arrested are normal Pakistanis who have no linkage with any religious or extremist group and nothing substantial so far has come out of the investigations.
The Minister said that investigators did find some linkages between the kidnappers and some well placed people in India. ?We don?t want to divulge the names and the status of these people. We want to act in maturity rather than hastily pointing fingers on others?, Moin said confirming that Daniel Pearl and those who were connected with his kidnapping did make calls to India.
Authorities have obtained numbers and details of the calls made to India from the main computer of the mobile company. The mobile number was jazz and who used it last cannot be determined immediately. The Minister very categorically dismissed reports that calls to India were also made from Pir Mubarak Shah Gillani ?s phone. Pir Mubarak had no links with India.
He said during the investigations, Pir Mubarak Shah had said that nobody approached him that any journalist was wanting to interview him or to see him. No fixer ever approached him for interview with Daniel Pearl. The Minister said that the whole issue looks quite bizarre to him and absolutely strange in its nature. He said, he has been personally monitoring the incident and had a detailed meeting with Daniel?s wife and the lady who had flown with them from New Delhi. I met the ladies along with the US Consulate General last Sunday. What looks to be very strange is that Daniel had come to Karachi to do a story on Shoe Bomber who had already been indicted by a US Court. All the evidence had been pieced together and put before a US Court. What was Daniel looking for in this old story. Secondly Daniel and his wife had come to Pakistan to do a small story and instead of staying in a hotel they rented a Rs 40,000 per month house. They did not even inform their Consulate about their arrival and whereabouts which is a normal practice for the US nationals. They did not even inform the Pakistani authorities about their arrival in Karachi. Daniel Pearl was fixing his meetings himself. He has been meeting people at secret places. It seems that Daniel has fallen into some trap. Possibly he has not taken enough precaution and has gone into wrong hands in his enthusiasm to meet certain people. They may have misused the trust he reposed in these fixers and other people.
Minister said Pakistan has mounted massive efforts in all parts and all those he has mentioned have been located. The main man he wanted to see is with the law enforcement agencies along with his laptop, driver and computer operator.
The Minister said that as Interior Minister I ought to know the dangerous organisations in the country. I have never heard of Al-Fuqra before. Similarly as Interior Minister I know quite well which leader in Pakistan is of extremist nature who makes fiery speeches and could land Pakistan into trouble.
The Minister pointed out that after September 11, at least 4000 foreign journalists came to Pakistan and covered stories in very sensitive areas, war zones and every nook and corner of Pakistan. These journalists also covered rallies in Quetta and nobody was ever harmed.
Replying to a question about the security situation in the wake of two bomb plants in diplomatic cars in the high security zone of Federal Capital followed by Daniel Pearl kidnapping, the Minister said we take great solace from the fact that no major incident has taken place. He, however, admitted, such incidents will be cropping up from time to time. It is a long battle, which we have to fight on many grounds. We need to mobilise public opinion, we have to get hold of these people, take them to courts. We have to disarm them and we need to de-weaponise our society. ?Although some isolated incidents will come up, by and large security situation is under control?, said the Minister.
Moin also did not rule out the possibility of involvement of a foreign agency into bomb planting saying that RDX used in these devices is not available in Pakistan. But we will not like to say so unless we have concrete proof. Investigations are going on in this regard. ?We want to act with responsibility?.
About Pakistan and FBI?s joint venture to fight terrorism, the Minister said that cooperation is not confined to apprehending Al-Qaeda activists. Pakistan needs equipment and expertise to fight terrorism domestically. We are asking FBI to train our police and intelligence gathering apparatus for the purpose to control terrorism within Pakistan?s borders. He said Pakistan is signing an MoU with FBI to train our people and guide us to combat terrorism.
He said it has been Pakistan?s policy to hand over terrorists and wanted foreign nationals to their respective governments. It is not only for USA. In last two years Pakistan has been following the policy that all Afghan Arabs who enter illegally must be handed over to their governments. He said Pakistan is signatory to a number of UN Conventions on terrorism and we want to take the matter very seriously.
He said the Government of Pakistan is in touch with Kabul Government for handing over of Pakistanis held in Afghanistan. Even if they are not fighters or terrorists, they will be put on trial for violating the country?s immigration laws. He said since year 2000 Pakistan had banned travels to Afghanistan.
When asked what action the Government intends to take against Indian Interior Minister who had attempted to kill Quaid-e-Azam in 1948, the Interior Minister said that Pakistan does not want to enter into a tit-for-tat policy and wants to act with maturity and grace. Why the authorities have been sleeping on this case for the last five decades. Moreover Pakistan has no extradition treaty with India. He said there is a doubt that Advani is a fundamentalist Hindu who goes to Yatra, makes controversial speeches against Pakistan and who led the destruction of Babri Mosque. But Pakistan wants to move forward in a mature manner with refined behaviour so that two countries can settle serious issues rather than indulging into frivolities.
About the list of 20 suspects demanded by India, the Interior Minister said that India has been demanding too much from Pakistan. These are all pressure tactics. They could have approached us earlier but now they are coming up with a long list of wishes with also amassing troops on borders. We have gone a long way to accommodate the Indian concerns but New Delhi is changing the goal posts every now ad then. ?We have done a lot to satisfy India and the world and it is for India now to respond positively,? said the Minister.
He said we also have a long list of wanted people who are hiding in India but talks about wanted people will only be held on the negotiation table and not other wise.
I hope so. I'm sure he'll want us to help Pakistan and India with the whole Kashmir situation - which I'm not really up to speed on, ttytt.
What struck me as odd, however, were the interviews with Pearl's French journalist wife who is pregnant with their first child.
Rarely have I seen someone in her position appear and sound so cold and mechanical. This could be a front, I suppose. Perhaps part of her training. However, not even a hint of normal emotion was visible to my eyes and ears.
I agree there's more to this story than is visible so far. It's becoming quite bizarre.
Leni
The first two emails from kidnapperguy@hotmail.com contained photos of Pearl (the photos you saw in the news last week).
Largely unreported, they also contained the IP address of the computer from which the emails were send (that's a well-known "feature" of Hotmail).
I posted on Friday that they'd been ID'd the minute they sent their emails.
But since two have apparently been captured already - and since their published emails indicate a low proficiency with the English language - I suspect that they didn't.
Even if they did, the U.S. has the best forensics and hacking expertise in the world.
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