International

Pak. not to release Pearl tape

ISLAMABAD, FEB. 23. Pakistan decided today not to release the videotape of the decapitation of the kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter, Daniel Pearl, because it is too gruesome.

A senior Government official said the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf's military administration had discussed releasing the tape but decided it was too barbaric to air.

The official told Reuters that the videotape, received by authorities from a carrier for the radical Islamic gang suspected of kidnapping Pearl, showed the reporter's severed head in its last frame.

Earlier parts of the brief tape showed Pearl's throat being cut from behind while he was still talking to the camera. ``The last scene shows Pearl's head separated from his body,'' the official said.

He said authorities were taking stringent precautions to try to ensure pirated copies of the videotape did not find their way into the hands of news organisations.

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