Pearl Got Over-Involved, Says Musharraf

by B. Muralidhar Reddy
The Hindu
March 8, 2002
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2002/03/08/stories/2002030806181100.htm

 

ISLAMABAD, MARCH 7. The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, today hinted that Pakistan would prefer to try Omar Sheikh, prime suspect in the Daniel Pearl case, under the domestic laws.

Responding to a question on the issue at the SAARC Information Ministers conference, Gen. Musharraf said that Islamabad had not yet arrived at any conclusion on the subject. "We would like to see the extradition subject''.

The issue of extradition of Omar Sheikh has been a subject of debate between Pakistan and the United States in the last few days. Last week, the U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan, Wendy Chamberlain, had called on Gen. Musharraf and made a specific request for his extradition.

Reports from Washington had indicated that Omar Sheikh has been indicted by the U.S. Justice Department in connection with the kidnap of an American tourist in 1994 in India. It is also believed that the U.S. had sought extradition of Omar Sheikh several weeks before the kidnap of Pearl.

In response to a question about the abduction and subsequent killing of Pearl, Gen. Musharraf maintained that it had nothing to do with freedom of press and travel of foreign journalists within Pakistan.

"Perhaps Daniel Pearl was over-intrusive. A mediaperson should be aware of the dangers of getting into dangerous areas. Unfortunately, he got over-involved,'' he said.

Asked what lessons Pakistan has learnt from the episode, Gen. Musharraf said that it had no lessons to learn.

 

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