Wednesday, Feb 13, 2002
Wednesday, Feb 13, 2002 |
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ISLAMABAD, FEB. 12. In what appears to be a major breakthrough in the kidnapping of the American journalist, Daniel Pearl, the Pakistan police today arrested the prime suspect, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and claimed on the basis of preliminary interrogation that Pearl was alive in Karachi. Police in Lahore picked up the British-born Sheikh, one of the three militants released by India in December 1999 in exchange for the passengers of the Indian Airlines flight hijacked to Kandahar. The authorities had launched a massive manhunt for him in the last few days, after his role was established in Pearl's kidnapping. The Deputy Inspector-General of Karachi Police, Tariq Jamil, said that Sheikh had told police that Pearl was alive. ``It is a major breakthrough. He is being interrogated in Lahore and he has told the interrogators that Pearl is alive and in Karachi. It is a big relief for us. But this is just a preliminary interrogation,'' he told presspersons. The Pakistan police had every reason to be pleased with the breakthrough as they were under tremendous pressure to ensure Pearl's safe release. Islamabad was clearly worried over the prospect of the abduction casting a shadow on the three-day official meeting of the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, with the U.S. President, George W. Bush, beginning later tonight. After arresting Sheikh, the (Pakistan) Punjab police handed him over to the Sindh police for further investigations. Sheikh was jailed in India in 1994 on charges of kidnapping four tourists - three Britons and an American. On his release in 1999, Sheikh came to Pakistan and was allegedly associated with the now-banned militant outfit, Jaish-e-Mohammad. Omar, son of a merchant in east London, studied at the London School of Economics. Earlier in the day, three persons, accused of involvement in Pearl's kidnapping, were remanded to custody for 14 days by an anti-terrorist court in Karachi. They were charged with sending two emails after Pearl disappeared, containing photographs of the Wall Street Journal reporter with a gun to his head. The mails threatened to kill him if the United States did not release the Afghan war prisoners. The three have reportedly confessed that Sheikh gave them Pearl's photographs. In a related development, the New York Times reported that Pakistan had detained two former ISI officers, Khalid Khawaja and Aslam Khan Sherani, in the hope that they could provide information on Pearl. One of them was a former pilot of Osama bin Laden. Both had ties with militant groups and trained fighters for anti-Soviet operations in Afghanistan. * * * 'Arrest vindicates our stand' By Our Special Correspondent NEW DELHI, FEB. 12. India today described the arrest of Omar Sheikh, leader of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad, in Lahore, as a confirmation of the fact that Pakistan was a safe haven for terrorists. Sheikh has also emerged as the prime suspect in the kidnapping of the American journalist, Daniel Pearl, in Pakistan. ``The latest development only confirms what we have been saying all along that safe haven is being provided in Pakistan to such elements,'' an External Affairs Ministry spokesperson told presspersons. ``We hope Pakistan will take simultaneous action in apprehending the fugitives, criminals and terrorists whose names figure in the list of 20 that India has provided to Islamabad.'' The 31-year-old Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a British national of Pakistani origin, is one of the three militants swapped for the passengers of the IC-814 airline hijacked to Kandahar in December 1999. He had been sent to India to secure the release of the then Harkat-ul-Ansar militant, Masood Azhar, and other Harkat leaders in Indian jails. He was arrested in 1994. While in Tihar jail, he came into contact with Aftab Ansari alias Farhan Malik in 1995. He helped Ansari establish his empire of crime which included kidnapping for ransom, extortion, gun-running and drug-trafficking. With Ansari, extradited from Dubai on Saturday, in CBI custody, sources said Sheikh's arrest would deal a severe blow to the alleged mastermind behind the American Center attack in Kolkata. Sheikh had wired $ 100,000 to Mohammad Atta, who rammed the hijacked plane in one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, they said. The money, it is suspected, came from the Rs. 3.75-crore ransom paid through a `hawala' channel to Ansari in Dubai when the Kolkata businessman, Partha Roy Burman, was kidnapped in July last.
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