Police in Pakistan appeared no closer to finding US journalist Daniel Pearl 11 days after his abduction, despite detaining several people and ruling out a claim that he is dead. A hitherto unknown group calling itself the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty, which sent a series of e-mails earlier in the week with photos of Pearl in captivity, had threatened to kill him first by Thursday then by Friday. Police dismissed an e-mail sent Friday claiming Pearl had been killed, and another e-mail sent Saturday saying he "may be" alive, blaming it on a teenager in Lahore. A 16 year old had admitted to sending the e-mail. Although the investigation had led to several people being detained in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, police said no charges had been laid. An intelligence officer said authorities were now only treating e-mails carrying photos of Pearl as genuine, branding any others as fakes.Based on other events in region, I wouldn't be the least surprised to learn that OBL was sipping tea upstairs in some remote hacienda while Pearl was incommunicado in the basement. Local security being provided by the ISI, of course.
Posted by Tom Roberts 2/3/2002 5:20:19 PM There was a false alarm this afternoon that Pearl had been found, shot through the head and dropped near the cop shop. Turned out to be some other poor soul. I was surprised that it was a false alarm.
I don't think OBL's involved. I think it's amateurs, possibly amateurs associated with the 16-year-old. I hope the Pak cops are hitting him very many times. I don't think they're investigating very hard, though. I think they're afraid of finding some of their own people involved.
Posted by Fred 2/3/2002 5:48:40 PM Has it come as a surprise that someone got pissed off at the WSJ? This could well be a personal grudge, not OBL or the ISI.
Posted by Kristin 2/4/2002 8:55:50 PM Doubt it. I don't think it had anything to do with the WSJ. I think it was the nationality.
Posted by Fred 2/5/2002 12:35:17 AM |