Author: B. Raman
Publication: South Asia Analysis Group
Date: January 1, 2007
URL: http://www.saag.org/papers22/paper2110.html
Remember Daniel Pearl, the Mumbai-based correspondent
of the "Wall Street Journal", who went to Karachi in January, 2002,
to do a story on the Pakistani links of the so-called shoe bomber?
Remember how he was trapped and kidnapped
by a group of jihadi terrorists of Pakistan?
Remember how he was brutally killed by his
throat being slit before video cameras like one slits the throat of a sacrificial
goat?
Remember how his dead body and severed head
were found buried in a plot of land in Karachi belonging to a so-called charitable
organisation close to the Jaish-e-Mohammad?
Remember Omar Sheikh, a Pakistani resident
of London, who had orchestrated the brutal incident?
Remember his role in the jihad against the
Serbs in Bosnia?
Remember his subsequent role in acts of terrorism
in India?
Remember his arrest and detention in India?
Remember how Pakistan's Harkat-ul-Mujahideen
(HUM) hijacked an Indian Airlines aircraft in December, 1999, to Kandahar
and secured his release?
Remember his surrender to the then Home Secretary
of Punjab in February,2002, after the kidnapping of Pearl?
Remember how Gen. Pervez Musharraf concealed
this information from the American public during his visit to the US in February,
2002?
Remember how Musharraf lied to the American
public that Pearl was still alive when he knew he was dead?
Remember the trial and conviction of Omar
Sheikh and some of his associates before a special anti-terrorism court?
Remember the judgement pronounced by the court
on July 15, 2002, sentencing Omar Sheikh to death and three others to life
imprisonment?
Remember the appeal filed by Omar Sheikh against
the death sentence?
In a few days, it will be five years since
the brutal murder of Pearl. In July, it will be five years since the court
sentenced Omar Sheikh to death.
Why his appeal has not been disposed of for
five years in violation of Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Act, which lays down
that hearings in terrorism-related cases should be disposed of on a day-to-day
basis without adjournments being granted?
Musharraf only knows.
Why a special dispensation has been shown
to Omar Sheikh and the appeal has been pending for nearly five years---- without
even a single substantive hearing, in total violation of the law relating
to trials in terrorism-related cases?
Musharraf only knows.
How many times adjournments have been granted
by the court to Omar Sheikh? I used to keep count till January last year,
but now I have given up since it is meaningless.
On what grounds were the adjournments granted?
Indisposition of Omar Sheikh.
Indisposition of his lawyer.
Indisposition of the judge.
Resignation of his lawyer.
Difficulty in finding a new lawyer.
Non-availability of police constables to provide
security in the court.
And so on and so on.
Do you know when was the last adjournment
granted?
January 19, 2007.
Till when?
February 19, 2007.
Why? No reasons were given by the court.
Why do the Pakistani authorities want to keep
Omar Sheikh alive? Why are they hesitant to execute him?
Musharraf only knows.
Why is President George Bush is not taking
up this case with Musharraf?
Bush only knows.
Sources in Sindh say that two of the suicide
bombers involved in the London blasts of July 7, 2005, had met Omar Sheikh
in jail during their visit to Pakistan before the blasts. Is it true?
Musharraf only knows.
Did the British ask the Pakistani authorities
for permission to question him on the London blasts?
Of course, they did.
What happened?
The Pakistani authorities asked them to approach
the court. They said the matter was no longer in their hands.
Did the British take up the matter with the
court?
Yes, they did.
What happened then?
The court has not had the time to look into
it.
Remember the sensational press conference
held by the London police on August 10,2006, in which they announced the discovery
of a terrorist plot to blow up many US-bound flights through liquid explosives?
Remember the arrest of a number of Pakistani
and Bangladeshi residents of the UK in connection with this plot?
Remember the tremendous inconvenience to which
thousands of air passengers were put all over the world following this?
Remember the praise showered on Pakistan by
the UK and the US for getting intelligence about this plot from one Rashid
Rauf, a Pakistani from Birmingham, who was arrested in Bhawalpur?
Remember how the Pakistani authorities went
to town over his arrest and projected him as close to a senior, unnamed Al
Qaeda leader?
What happened to those arrested by the British
police?
Seven of them are currently facing trial.
Why during the hearing so far there has not
been much of a reference to the so-called plot to blow up US-bound planes?
Ask the British Police.
What happened to Rashid Rauf?
He was discharged by a court last month on
the ground that there was no evidence against him relating to any plot to
commit any act of terrorism.
Has he been released?
No. The Pakistani authorities continue to
detain him and have gone in appeal to the Lahore High Court.
Has the Lahore High Court been hearing the
appeal?
No.
Then, what is it doing?
Adjourning the case under one pretext or the
other.
When was the last adjournment ordered?
January 25, 2007.
On what grounds?
The court has no time.
Has it fixed the date of the next hearing?
No.
Have the British questioned him on the London
plot?
No.
Have the British Police asked for his extradition?
Yes.
What has been the response of the Pakistani
authorities?
Not possible since Pakistan does not have
an extradition treaty with the UK.
How is it the Pakistani authorities have informally
handed over so many suspects to the US, including many terrorists of Al Qaeda,
without formal extradition proceedings, but are not prepared to do the same
thing with Rauf?
Ask Musharraf.
Why are they so afraid of handing him over
to the British?
Ask Musharraf.
What do the US and the UK say to all this?
Musharraf is a trustworthy warrior against
terrorism.
He may give shelter to Osama bin Laden in
Waziristan.
And yet, he is a trustworthy warrior against
terrorism.
He may give shelter to Ayman al-Zawahiri in
Waziristan.
And yet, he is a trustworthy warrior against
terrorism
He may give shelter to Mulla Mohammad Omar
in Quetta.
And yet, he is a trustworthy warrior against
terrorism.
He may call off his operations against Al
Qaeda and the Taliban in Waziristan.
And yet, he is a trustworthy warrior against
terrorism.
He may be responsible for the deaths of thousands
of Afghans and hundreds of NATO forces in Afghanistan.
And yet, he is a trustworthy warrior against
terrorism.
Hail to this "trustworthy" warrior----the
greatest "ally" of the US and the UK in the war against terrorism.
No wonder Al Qaeda and the Taliban are making
hay while Musharraf shines.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd),
Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director,
Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: itschen36@gmail.com)
KARACHI: Pearl case hearing adjourned
KARACHI, Jan 19: A division bench of Sindh
High Court on Friday put off proceedings to February 19 in appeals filed by
accused and the state in Daniel Pearl kidnapping and murder case.
The bench comprising Justice Rehmat Hussain
Jaffery and Justice Munib Ahmed Khan adjourned the hearing in appeals against
the conviction of appellants and the state's appeal for an enhancement of
sentence of the co-accused.
The four convicts include Ahmed Omar Shaikh,
the main accused who has challenged the death sentence awarded to him while
his accomplices Salman Saqib, Fahad Naseem and Adil Sheikh, who were sentenced
to serve life term have moved appeals against their convictions. State is
also seeking enhancement of life terms into capital punishment to the co-accused.
The accused were tried and convicted by Anti-Terrorism
Court on July 15, 2002, following the trial at Hyderabad Jail, for masterminding
the kidnapping-cum-murder of Wall Street Journal's reporter Daniel Pearl.-APP
Court adjourns Rashid Rauf's hearing
ISLAMABAD: A court on Thursday adjourned a
government petition seeking to restore terror charges against a Briton accused
of involvement in a plot to blow up transatlantic jets, legal sources said.
Rashid Rauf, 25, who denies any links to the
alleged conspiracy, was arrested in in August last year, sparking a massive
international security alert and a series of arrests in Britain.
An anti-terrorism court dropped terror charges
against Rauf in a preliminary hearing in December but its order was suspended
when the Punjab government appealed to a higher court.
A two-member Lahore High Court bench sitting
in Rawalpindi on Thursday did not take up the petition because of lack of
time and gave no new date for the hearing, said Rauf's lawyer, Hashmat Habib.
Rauf did not appear in court, officials said. afp
