International
2 ''prime suspects' identified in Pearl abduction
By B. Muralidhar Reddy
ISLAMABAD, FEB. 5. Confusion persists over the whereabouts of the missing American journalist, Daniel Pearl, even as the Pakistani police today named two prime suspects in his kidnapping after arresting six others on Monday in Lahore.
Officials were quoted as saying that Mohammad Hashim Qadeer and Mohammad Bashir were the ``prime suspects'' in the kidnapping of the Wall Street Journal reporter.
``We will know the extent of their involvement once they are arrested. We hope to catch them,'' they said.
The Governor of Sindh, Mohammadmian Soomro, has expressed the hope that with the detention of the six persons, a breakthrough could be expected.
Meanwhile, police have admitted that they detained the wrong person while seeking a key contact of Pearl.
The authorities had claimed a major breakthrough with the detention of a man believed to be Mohammad Hashim Qadir, who apparently helped Pearl arrange meetings.
A senior Pakistani journalist, Khaled Ahmed, of The Friday Times has said that some people in the administration could be in the know of Pearl's whereabouts.
There was no organisation called the Restoration of the Sovereignty of Pakistan - which has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping - and a banned `jehadi' group might have assumed this name, he told the BBC on Monday.
And connections between the `jehadis' and the administration existed despite the ban on certain groups.
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