Posted on 05/17/2002 3:26:45 PM PDT by j2r2
'Catch 22' for police as Pearl's killer held
By Kamran Khan
KARACHI: Despite the arrest of two persons -- directly involved in the alleged kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl -- at least two days ago, the Sindh police bosses were weighing their options till Friday night before they formally arrest these two individuals in the Pearl case, according to senior officials close to the investigation of the case.
The Crime Investigation Department (CID) branch of Sindh police is holding a banned anti-Shia religious organization's two unidentified militant members, who not only pinpointed the Gulzare Hijri compound from where the decapitated body of Daniel Pearl was recovered Friday, but also provided graphic details of their involvement in the murder and subsequent decapitation of the body of the Wall Street Journal reporter about one week after his kidnapping in Karachi on January 23.
The Pearl case took a dramatic turn on Thursday, officials said, when the sensational arrest of an alleged Pearl killer was kept secret even from the team of CID officials who had investigated the Pearl case since January.
The police strategy was finalised in a meeting held under IGP Syed Kamal Shah at his residence 2 am Friday. "The same CID department of Sindh police now has two set of versions and accused in the Pearl kidnapping case," conceded a knowledgeable official.
Such was the confusion that despite the arrest of two persons who had categorically acknowledged their direct involvement in the kidnapping, murder and burial of body parts of Daniel Pearl, the police Friday showed the recovery of decapitated body from a Gulzare Hijri nursery on the pointation of "an informant". Police officials consider the recovery of the body on the pointation of self-confessed accused before a magistrate as the most damning evidence that will surely take the accused to the gallows.
These arrests, yet to be made public, have also yielded" considerable quantity" of explosives and some hazardous chemical that may also be used as weapon in closed surroundings. Their interrogation has also provided first solid evidence of al-Qaeda's penetration in local religious groups.
The two arrested persons have spoken about the presence of numerous al-Qaeda individuals who besides their native Arabic speak Pushto fluently. Most of them are believed to be living in the Sohrab Goth and Gulzare Hijri areas of Karachi.
"Their arrest and statements made before some police officials carry serious implication for the prosecution's case already presented before the anti-terrorism court," according to an informed official.
None of the two persons, now being detained by the police, was listed as accused in the police challan of Pearl kidnapping and murder case presented before the trial court in March. Seven individuals have been listed by the police as absconders in the Pearl case, but none of those names appeared in the informal statements made by the two recently arrested persons.
"The main problem is that some of the details presented in the police case are much different from the account provided by the two detained persons," according to an official. For instance, an official said that these two individuals do not cite the presence of Omar Sheikh at the time of kidnapping and the murder of Daniel Pearl. Police had produced a taxi driver named Nasir Abbas as its key witness for Omar Sheikh's personal presence at the time of Pearl's kidnapping from outside the Village Garden restaurant. These individuals, however, acknowledged Sheikh's personal involvement in planning Pearl's kidnapping, but they gave the name of an individual, Omar, as the person actively involved in sending e-mails on Pearl's kidnapping to the international media.
Police sources said that Omar carries a head money of half a million rupees for his alleged involvement in the murder of various Shia notables. They have also given a picture of the scene of kidnapping much different from the scene portrayed in the police challan.
Officials said that Danny was driven from Village Garden restaurant to Gulzare Hijri, where he was murdered seven days later, in a red Suzuki Alto. One of the two persons who confessed to have slit Pearl's throat said that he had to do that particular act twice because on the first occasion the video camera had failed to catch the shot because of a technical glitch. "That's why in the video you didn't see the blood oozing out of his neck, I had to work hard to keep the neck together so that it doesn't become obvious in the film that I am slitting an already cut throat," the alleged Pearl killer told his interrogators.
Radical Islam is an insane death cult, and "moderate" Islam is its Trojan Horse in the West.
I have a vision everytime I hear or see that phrase.
You would have to have seen the movie "Absence of Malice" starring Paul Newman, Sally Field and Melinda Dillon.
There is a scene where Newman grabs Sally Field by the face and neck and brings his face right up to hers. He then describes in lurid, blood chilling detail, the condition of his friend's body (played by Melinda Dillon) when it is found by police after her suicide, which is caused in part by Sally Fields' character.
When I hear, "Islam is a religon of peace" I want to grab the party uttering those words and pull a Newman on them and start describing Daniel Pearls murder, or the murder of Leon Klinghoffer, or the murder of Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem, or the murder of Israeli Olympic wrestling coach Andre Spitzer...all in lurid, blood chilling detail.
Religion of peace. My ass.
What a load of crap. Get control of yourself, TLB.
...and the winner of the KnuckleDragger Of The Thread Award is....jrlc! Here's your award, champ :
That's completely untrue. Most Muslims get up in the morning, pull their pants on one leg at a time and wonder what's for breakfast just like you and I do. The fact is that 99.9% of them have accepted and understood US payback for 911.It's you guys who won't let it go; you're getting your jollies from posting these anonymous hate-filled sprays on the Internet- sprays completely free, of any facts. One might expect a few newbies would get into that, but you old-time Freepers should know better, and should set a bit of an example.
Islam is love.
Very few of them. Very, very few. I've got Muslim parents in my Cub Scout pack and they're good people. Can't imagine what they would think if they read FR lately. Have you ever considered that maybe people will behave in the manner in which you expect them to, TLB? If you keep branding every single Muslim a terrorist murderer don't be surprised if one eventually decides to confirm your prejudices.
Surprise Surprise
Remember "Islam means Peace"
I agree that he was doing his job, and in that profession a lot of them do take risks. A good journalist will do anything for a story. Pearl went to an extreme degree of risk, and friends had warned him about this story - which was that he investigated links between Pakistani intelligence and Al-Qaida hijackings. Among all the "lets hate Islam" stuff the real nature of what Pearl was investigating has been ignored. He was looking at a military/intelligence organisation which is, incidently, closely connected with its conterparts in the USA. His friends were right to warn him off the story. I wouldn't give a penny for his life in those circumstances. He had roused much more dangerous forces than some loopy group of terrorist fanatics.
Also, there is something wrong with the above story. It starts by saying that the killers are members of a militant Shia group, and then towards the end says that they are responsible for the assassinations of leading members of the Shia community. These recent deaths have been blamed on Pakistani militants with military ties.
The "old ones" knew how to wage war. And when it was over, IT WAS OVER! None of this "peace process" nonsense that drags on for decades. We reap what we have sown.
The ONLY historically proven method is to CONQUER the enemy. The sooner we wrest control from the foolish liberals, the sooner the conflict with the radical muslims will be over.
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