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| Sunday, 24 February 2002 |
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Pakistan continues to chase suspects after Pearl's death. KARACHI, Feb 23 (AFP) - Pakistani police were Saturday searching for a key suspect blamed in the abduction of US journalist Daniel Pearl, whose grisly killing has triggered horror and anger worldwide. A senior investigator said police's most wanted man was Amjad Hussain Farooqi, an Islamic militant they believe drove Pearl from a hotel January 23 on his way to captivity and eventual death. "So far there is no clue as to when and where the murder was carried out," the investigator said. "We are engaged in frantic efforts to find the body" and Farooqi, he said. The US and Pakistani governments have both vowed to track down those behind the slaying of the Wall Street Journal correspondent, who was abducted when he thought he was to interview an Islamic militant. Pakistan Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider said Friday police were looking for four more accomplices in the killing, using descriptions provided by a journalist who delivered a videotape showing Pearl being decapitated. Investigators also said police were hunting another suspect, an Arab who is thought to have helped Farooqi kidnap Pearl in this southern Pakistani city. Officials declined to specify the name or nationality of the suspect, saying that would help the man escape. Police already have in custody British-born Islamic militant Sheikh Omar, the self-confessed mastermind of Pearl's abduction who told a court February 14 that Pearl was dead. Omar is due to appear before a security-heavy Karachi court Monday when his 13-day remand runs out. A senior investigator said Omar "would now face a murder case". Also detained are three militants accused of sending e-mails after Pearl was snatched showing the 38-year-old reporter with a gun to his head and listing demands, among them that the United States release Pakistanis detained from its military campaign in Afghanistan. Top US officials were adamant they would not bow to the demands, as authorities in Pakistan conducted a massive manhunt. The Pakistani news agency that received the video of Pearl's slaying said Friday that Pearl was killed after he read a statement saying that he was Jewish and that Muslims were being persecuted in several parts of the world. Pearl's widow Mariane, who is seven months pregnant with the couple's first child, said her husband was forced to read the statement before being "stabbed in the most cruel and cowardly manner." She said those responsible took her husband's life but not his spirit. That spirit, she said, should imbue an entire civilization to work together to resist "those evil people casting a shadow upon our world". Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf vowed to "liquidate terrorists" from his country after the killing. "If the objective of these terrorists or those who perpetrated this murder was to move us away from our resolve, let me tell them that they are sadly mistaken," Musharraf said on state television. The general acknowledged last week on a visit to Washington that Pearl's kidnapping may have been part of a backlash against a crackdown on Islamic extremism he announced in a January 12 speech. The United States on Friday hailed Pakistan's cooperation with the investigation and expressed hope that such help could bring the swift arrest of his abductors. "Both the United States and Pakistan are committed to identifying the perpetrators of the crime and bringing them to justice," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. "We'll continue to work closely with Pakistani authorities, who have provided excellent cooperation in this investigation all along." US President George W. Bush said in Beijing the slaying would only strengthen US determination in its war on terrorism. "Those who would threaten Americans, those who would engage in criminal, barbaric acts, need to know that these crimes only hurt their cause and only deepen the resolve of the United States of America to rid the world of these agents of terror," Bush said. |
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