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Pakistani terr admits role in Pearl murder
 ISLAMABAD â A militant suspected of bringing murdered US reporter Daniel Pearl to his kidnappers has confessed he was working for two key Al Qaeda-linked operatives, police said on Saturday. | I see the Pakistani Olympic Truncheon team is still in fine form. |
Mohammad Hashim Qadir was arrested last month in Gujranwala in the central province of Punjab. Security sources believe he set up a meeting between Pearl and militants who later kidnapped and killed him. âHe has confessed to his role in the Pearl case and to some robberies,â Gujranwala police chief Zafar Abbas told Reuters. No-one was available to give comment from Qadir himself.
| And he wasn't feeling up to any press comments, either. |
Abbas did not say what part Qadir, also known as Arif, played in the Wall Street Journal reporterâs abduction and murder, but said he had admitted taking instructions from two militants who played key roles in the plot. âHe confessed he was receiving orders from Omar Sheikh and Amjad Farooqi.â
British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, commonly known as Omar Sheikh, was sentenced to death in 2002 for masterminding the murder, but is still in jail awaiting an appeal hearing.
| Surprised they didn't release him on a recognizance bond ... |
Amjad Hussain Farooqi was named as a conspirator in the Pearl case, and was considered a key link between local militants and Al Qaeda planner Abu Faraj Farj Al Libbi, who was captured in Pakistan in May. Farooqi, who was also implicated in assassination plots against President Pervez Musharraf, was killed by security forces in the southern city of Nawabshah in September last year.
| Not clear whether even his mother misses him ... |
Investigators in Karachi, where Pearl was murdered, say Qadir acted as a go-between for Sheikh and Farooqi.
Posted by: Steve White 2005-08-07 |
