Abduction Cases

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January 11, 2002 Friday Shawwal 26, 1422

KARACHI: 1,745 abduction cases reported last year

KARACHI, Jan 10: As many as 1745 cases of abduction of women and children were reportedall over Pakistan last year.

There were 1193 cases of women kidnapping, 266 cases of female child abduction and 286 cases

of male child abduction.

Despite these enormous figures, the fact remains that crimes against children and women

continue to be under-reported in the country.

The statistics were compiled by Madadgaar, a joint venture of the Lawyers for Human Rights

and Legal Aid (LHRLA) and UNICEF.

Out of recognized 1193 women kidnapping cases, 59 were published in the month of January; inFebruary 58, in March 76, in April 113, in May 108, in June 89, in July 114, in August 130, in

September 126, in October 141, in November 88, and in December 91 cases were reported,

In many reported cases, the perpetrator was known to the victim; he was either an acquaintance,

a neighbour, a relative, a friend, family friend or a stranger. In some very significant cases the

kidnapper was a policeman, in other cases the kidnapper was a dacoit, husband, wadera orjagirdar (feudal lord), peer, faqir (spiritual leader), maulvi, shopkeeper, pimp or trafficker.

During the year 286 cases of male child abduction were reported. Of these reported cases 15were in acknowledged in January; 7 in February, 13 in March, 15 in April, 31 in May, 27 in

June, 23 in July, 47 in August, 28 in September, 31 in October, 20 in November and 29 cases of

male child abduction were published in December 2001.

According to a news report published in The Observer, Washington, at least 30 boys a month are

being kidnapped from Pakistan to feed the banned slave trade in racing camel jockeys in the

United Arab Emirates.

During the year 266 cases of female child kidnapping were reported all over the country. Out of

these, 8 cases were acknowledged on January, 8 in February, 6 in March, 6 in April, 15 in May,15 in June, 32 in July, 34 in August, 29 in September, 52 in October, 25 in November and 36

cases were reported in December.

Cases of the kidnapping of children and women were rampant in the Punjab and Sindh. Duringthe last twelve months 851 cases of abduction of women and children were reported in the

Punjab; 794 cases in Sindh, 51 in the NWFP and 49 cases of kidnapping were acknowledged by

the print media.

January 19, 2002 Saturday Ziqa'ad 4, 1422


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KARACHI, Jan 18: Three police officials, aggrieved by an order of the administrative

judge, Anti-Terrorism Court, for directing the trial court to take action against them under

section 27 of the ATA Act in a kidnapping-for-ransom case (218/201), have filed revision

application in the Sindh High Court.

The ATA appellate bench, comprising Justice Ghulam Nabi Soomro and Justice

Ghulam Rabbani, ordered issuance of notice for Monday, when the matter came up on

Friday.

The applicants, represented by Khwaja Naved Ahmed advocate, have prayed for calling

of record and proceedings of the above mentioned case from the court of the special

judge, Anti- Terrorism Court No II, who had issued show cause notices to them prior to

holding of trial and recording evidence.

The applicants are Chaudhary Anwar Ali Punno, subdivisional police officer,Liaquatabad; Afaq Ahmed, SHO Sharifabad, and SI Ejaz Ahmed posted at the

Sharifabad police station.

The matter pertains to the complaint of Abdul Majeed, lodged at the Sharifabad police

station, about abduction of his three-year-old daughter, Ramsha, by unknown persons

on Nov 13, 2001. Subsequently, the police had arrested three persons Zahid, Faisal

and Urooj.

During investigation, Zahid had confessed the crime but his wife Urooj was found to be

innocent. According to the police she had acted under the pressure of her husband anddid not share the common intention with the other co-accused.

The police, accordingly, submitted the report under section 169 CrPC before the

administrative judge.

February 3, 2002 Sunday Ziqaad 19, 1422

KARACHI: Daniel Pearl remains traceless

By Our Staff Reporter

KARACHI, Feb 2: Police on Friday night and Saturday thoroughly searched all the well-knowncemeteries in the city and its suburban areas after they received an electronic message that the

American journalist, Daniel Pearl, had been killed and his body dumped in a cemetery.


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Sources in police said they had carried out an overnight extensive search in all cemeteries in the

city and its outskirts, but they had not found any dead body dumped there, which strengthened

the hope that Daniel was alive. We searched the cemeteries again in daylight, but we havefound no dead body dumped in any of the cemeteries, a senior police official said.

The sources said a caller, who had rang up the US embassy in Islamabad and demanded twomillion US dollars in ransom besides asking for the release of Mulla Zaeef and 25 others, had

been traced and picked up for investigation. However, the DIG Karachi (Operation), Tariq Jamil,

denied any such arrest, saying that no such suspect was in police custody.

A senior official said one of the suspects in the case, Pir Mubarak Shah Gilani, had been

interrogated by the Karachi police and other law-enforcement agencies. A team of the Federal

Investigation Bureau (FBI) of the USA had also interrogated Gilani, the official said. But policedid not get any substantive information from Gilani, which could help make any breakthrough in

the case.

Police had also picked up the driver of Mubarak Shah and another man associated with him inMansehra, NWFP, and brought them to Karachi for interrogation, the police official said.

He said police had verified the calls received on the mobile phone, which was in the use of

Daniel Pearl, and some of the suspicious calls had been identified. When the mobile phone, from

which calls were made to Daniel, were verified from the companies concerned, it came to light

that the mobile phone had been issued on a fake name and address. The mobile phone, whichwas in the use of Daniel, had also been issued in the name of some other person.

Police had raided a place in Karachi from where the electronic message was sent to The WallStreet Journal, and strict surveillance was being maintained at the place to keep a watch on the

movement of the suspected persons, the police official said.

Police have also deployed their persons in plain clothes at that place, but no arrest has so far

been made, he added. He did not identify the place for reason of secrecy of investigation.

Another electronic mail originated from Lahore, the senior police official said.

He said an e-mail account could easily be created in a fake name and with a fake identity. The

suspects created a new account to send their electronic mail for one time only as they did not useit again, which was proving a hurdle in the way of tracing them out.

All information about the kidnapping of Daniel Pearl is coming out of electronic messagesbeing received by the media. The kidnappers have not contacted Daniels wife, the local police

or the government, he said, adding that the motive for the kidnapping was still not known as the

e-mail messages contradicted one another, which showed that either the kidnappers werethemselves confused or they wanted to confuse the investigators.

February 6, 2002 Wednesday Ziqaad 22, 1422

KARACHI: Daniel Pearl issue may soon be resolved


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KARACHI, Feb 5: Governor Sindh Mohammedmian Soomro said on Tuesdaythat the issue of

the kidnapping of American journalist Daniel Pearl would soon be resolved as the law enforcingagencies had made progress in the case.

Talking to the newsmen at the Kashmir Solidarity Day function of the city government here, hesaid the wait for the solution of the case would not be long now as the investigating forces had

some clues to the kidnappers.

Replying to a question, he said that five to six more suspects had been nabbed and it was

expected that some clue to the kidnappers would come out of their interrogation.

He added that the investigation agencies were thrashing the records of mobile phone calls toascertain the links of the telephone calls made by the suspects. APP

February 12, 2002 Tuesday Ziqaad 28, 1422

KARACHI: Judge declines remand for want of jurisdiction : Daniel Pearl case

By Our Reporter

KARACHI, Feb 11: Differing interpretations of the recent amendment to the Anti-terrorism Actof 1997, regarding reconstitution of the ATCs, stood in the way of the Karachi police in

obtaining physical remand from Justice Shabbir Ahmed of the Sindh High Court on Monday of

the three suspects in the kidnapping case of Daniel Pearl.

Foreign electronic media had swarmed the High Court since morning in the hope that police

would bring the three suspects, Salman Saqib, Fahd and Adil Shaikh, to obtain their remand inthe high-profile kidnapping case of the Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl from Justice

Ahmed who, before the amendment, also functioned as administrative judge of the ATCs.

The three accused were arrested in Gulistan-i-Jauhar for their alleged involvement in sending e-mail messages containing the abducted journalists pictures in captivity, allegedly on the

instruction of the prime suspect, Shaikh Omar Saeed.

Amid long wait and see on Monday, around 4pm the SSP Police Investigation- II, Manzoor

Ahmed Mughal, along with Advocate-General Sindh Raja Qureshi, appeared before Justice

Ahmed in his chambers for obtaining remand of the three accused.

The accused were, nevertheless, not produced in the court. Khwaja Naveed Ahmed, counsel for

one of the accused, Fahd, was also asked to appear in the chamber.


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If the government is able to convince Justice Ahmed on jurisdiction point, then the accused are

expected to be produced before him for remand on Tuesday.

According to Khawaja Naveed, Justice Ahmed asked the AG Sindh to satisfy him on the

jurisdiction point in view of the amendment. Justice Ahmed wanted to be satisfied by the AG

whether he was still administrative judge for the ATCs in Karachi, after the amendment.

The AG submitted various law points and contended that he could grant remand as new ATCs

had not been constituted yet, and till their constitution he would work as administrative judge.

Justice Ahmed asked the AG to come on Tuesday with a copy of the notification.

In the notification of the amendment, which became effective at once, according to clause 5 ofthe amendment, on the reconstitution of the Anti- Terrorism Courts under this section, the Anti-

Terrorism Courts existing immediately before the commencement of the Anti-Terrorism

(Amendment) Ordinance 2002, shall stand abolished and all cases pending before such courts

shall stand transferred and assigned to reconstituted courts having territorial jurisdiction underthe direction and supervision of Chief Justices of High Court concerned.

In the amended order there is no mention of the administrative judge, which had caused the

question of jurisdiction.

Khwaja Naveed later told newsmen that since Justice Ahmed did not assume jurisdiction, hecould not present his clients case. He said he held the view that Justice Ahmed had no

jurisdiction in the matter.

He told reporters that, according to law, police were responsible to produce any accused in a

court of law within 24 hours after arrest, but this had not been done in the case of the three

accused. We dont know the detail of the FIR and under what sections they have been held, hesaid.

Daniel Pearl has been missing since Jan 23 and police believe some persons illegally detainedhim when he went to meet them. His wife had lodged a report at Artillery Maidan police station.

The amendment to the ATA has become controversial following the governments decision to

induct serving military officer into the restructured anti- terrorism courts.

Through the amendment to the ATA Ordinance of 2002 the government has provided for three-

member anti-terrorism courts in country.

The legal fraternity has held that the ordinance is also in direct conflict with the judgments of the

apex court in the case of Shaikh Liaquat Husain and Mehram Ali and certainly in excess of theextra-constitutional departure condoned by the Supreme Court in Zafar Ali Shah case.

February 13, 2002 Wednesday Ziqaad 29, 1422


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KARACHI: Suspects remanded in Pearl case

By Our Reporter

KARACHI, Feb 12: Justice Shabbir Ahmed of the Sindh High Court remanded on Tuesday the

three suspects in the kidnapping of the Wall Street Journals journalist Daniel Pearl in policecustody for 14 days, after the controversy over jurisdiction was resolved following submissions

by the Sindh advocate-general.

On Monday Justice Ahmed had declined to accord remand on the point that the amendedordinance 2002, pertaining to the Anti-terrorism Act, had come into force at once whereupon

he had ceased to be the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts at Karachi, and he could

not grant remand. He had given the Advocate-General, Raja Qureshi, one day to satisfy him on

the point of jurisdiction and to produce notification of his appointment as administrative judge.

Foreign electronic media swarmed the court premises when about 10:30 in the morning thesuspects, Salman Saqib, Fahd and Adil Shaikh, were brought to the High Court handcuffed and

their faces covered, amid tight security in police mobiles. Senior police officials, including the

investigation officer, Hamidullah, accompanied them. They were soon ushered into the chamberof the judge, followed by Khwaja Naveed Ahmed, counsel for one of the accused.

When the matter came up before Justice Ahmed, the AG produced the notification and relied

upon article 246 (e) of the constitution which envisaged the effect of repeal of law.

His further contention was that by operation of law and section 6 of the General Clauses Act, tillsuch time the reconstituted courts were notified, the administrative judge would continue to beinvested with the powers of granting remand.

The main thrust of the AG was, that no forum was available, and if no remand was accorded tothe investigating agency, the recovery of the hostage would become impossible, confessional

statement would not be recorded, identification parade would not be held and recovery of other

incriminating materials would not be possible.

This particular section also states that and any such investigation, legal proceeding or remedy,

my be instituted, continued or enforced and any such penalty, forfeiture or punishment may be

imposed as if the repealing Act or regulation had not been passed.

Justice Ahmed examined the effect of repeal, with the assistance of the advocate-general, who

had contended that repeal would not affect any investigation, legal proceeding or remedy inrespect of any such right, privilege, obligation, liability, penalty, forfeiture or punishment and

any such investigation, legal proceedings or remedy might be instituted, continued or enforced

on the basis of clause (e) of article 264 of the constitution.


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Justice Ahmed, in his order as administrative judge of the ATCs, held that since the matter is

under investigation and the investigation cannot be conducted unless police remand of the

accused is granted for the purpose of investigation, a vacuum cannot be allowed to creep.Therefore, I am of the view that this court can grant remand in spite of repeal of the provisions

till reconstitution of the Anti-terrorism court is duly notified.

After the jurisdiction issue was resolved, Justice Ahmed inquired from the IO what was the

charge against the three persons. The IO disclosed that they had sent e- mails which they had

themselves admitted. Fahd was arrested at 11:30am on Feb 11, Salman Saqib about 1:30am, andAdil at 4:30am on Feb 12.

The accused were asked one by one whether they were maltreated by police during police

custody. All of them, in the presence of Khwaja Naveed, counsel for one of them, stated thatthey had not been maltreated. One of the accused, Salman Saqib, was limping. He had stated that

it was due to a gunshot injury sustained by him about two and a half years ago.

The three accused were arrested in Gulistan-i-Jauhar for their alleged involvement in sending e-mail messages containing the abducted journalists pictures in captivity, allegedly on the

instructions of the prime suspect, Shaikh Omar Saeed. Their arrest was in connection with theabduction of Daniel Pearl, under FIR No 24/2002 which was registered on Feb 4 at Artillery

Maidan police station under section 365-A of PPC.

The complainant, Daniels wife, complained that certain e-mail messages, including pictures ofher husband, were received by her and that her husband was being kept in inhuman conditions.

February 15, 2002 Friday Zilhaj 2, 1422

KARACHI: Police believe Pearl is alive


KARACHI, Feb 14: Recovery of the kidnapped US journalist Daniel Pearl is a matter of a

couple of days, the provincial police chief Kamal Shah told a press conference on Thursday.

We are fully satisfied with the way and the pace of investigation and all involved in the

kidnapping will be arrested. It is impossible to give out a timeframe. However, we will be able to

recover him in a couple of days and it could be a little longer than expected, he said.

Commenting on a statement of the key suspect Omar Shaikh in the court earlier in the day who

had stated that as far as I understand, he is dead, the provincial police chief said his (Omars)

statement was not substantiated by the evidence which the police had collected. He said thatearlier during investigation Omar had claimed Pearl was alive.

He said after the court proceedings, Omar was questioned again and he had no idea as to who


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had killed Pearl and where his body had been dumped.

When a reporter told Mr Shah that Omar had told the court that he had surrendered himself to thepolice on Feb 5 to save his family from harassment, the IG said Omars every statement could

not be believed as he had tried to mislead the investigators by giving inconsistent statements.

Only that statement could be believed which was substantiated by the evidence. He said Omarhad been arrested on Feb 12, taken to Islamabad first and then flown to Karachi as there had

been no flight from Lahore to Karachi on that day.

He said Daniel Pearl, went missing on Jan 23, had not lived in Karachi and he had no contacts,

which was the major hindrance to trace him and investigate the case. He said the best

intelligence officers along with Citizen-Police Liaison Committee were investigating the case.

The police had arrested three suspects earlier who had sent two e-mails containing photographs.The contents of the e-mail had been provided personally by Omar Shaikh to them. Confusion

was created when false e-mails were sent to the media. The captors did not communicate except

through the two e-mails.

He said: We are interrogating Omar Shaikh and he is retracting his statements again and again.

He is a hard nut to # crack as he is a clever, intelligent and educated. It was a complicated caseand the police were dealing with sufficiently trained suspects, he added.

He said: We have four accused in custody. Omar Shaikh is being interrogated and he has not

provided us a substantial clue to the captors of Daniel Pearl so far. It will take some time to breakhim.

About the role of the Federal Bureau of Investigation into the investigation, Kamal Shah said:We are handicapped as far as technical equipment is concerned. The FBI has provided us the

technical assistance as they had experience in dealing with cyber crime. However, he did not

elaborate what he meant by technical assistance.


KARACHI, Feb 14: Another suspect in the kidnapping of the US reporter Daniel Pearlwas taken into custody in the city on Thursday, well-placed sources in the police said.

The sources said five suspects were taken into custody in New Karachi and Buffer Zonein a murder case of a 40-year-old doctor, Syed Rashid Mehdi. The doctor was shotdead near Faizur Rehman Hospital in Orangi Town on the night of Feb 12 by twounidentified motorcyclists.

During interrogation, one of the suspects, identified as Asif, disclosed some clues in thekidnapping of Daniel Pearl, the sources said and added that the suspect was beinginterrogated and some more clues were expected from him. However, the sources didnot disclose the details of investigation.

A senior police official confirmed the custody of the suspect in Daniel Pearl case.


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KARACHI: Suspect owns up to sending e-mail: Pearl case

By Tahir Siddiqui

KARACHI, Feb 21: One of the suspects in the Daniel Pearl kidnapping case confessed on

Thursday before a judicial magistrate that prime suspect Shaikh Umer had asked him to send the

e-mail about the kidnapping of the US journalist.

In his confessional statement before the magistraial court, Fahad Naseem, an employee at a cyber

cafe, disclosed that his cousin, Salman Saqib, had introduced him to the prime suspect, who hadassigned him the task of sending messages and photograph through e-mail.

His attorney, Khawaja Naveed, who was allowed by Judicial Magistrate Irum Jahangir to go

through the confessional statement of the suspect, told reporters that the role of his client wasconfined only to the sending of the e-mail messages.

He said according to the confessional statement his client had met Shaikh Umer on Jan 21 at ahouse in Karachi, where he had also seen a man, Qasim, and an unknown bearded man. He said

the prime suspect had wanted him to send some e-mails.

The suspect revealed that later Salman had got Rs175,000 changed from a money changer near

the Karachi Stock Exchange and they had bought a camera from a shop near Reagal Chowk in

Saddar.

Fahad said he had asked Shaikh Umer as to why they had kidnapped the US journalist when he

(the Shaikh) had given him the messages for e-mail. He also stated that the prime suspect had

also asked him not to ask questions as it could invite problem for him.

He said Shaikh Umer had later told him that they had kidnapped the US journalist because he

was a Jew and was working against Islam.

Referring to Fahads statement, the defence counsel said it was an exculpatory type

confession. Such type of confession has no evidentiary value as it was made 14 days after thearrest of the suspect.

The counsel, referring to the confession, said that his client had never seen the abducted

journalist. Nor did he know the whereabouts of the abductee, he said.

Answering a question, he said his client would not become an approver in the case.


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The 21-year-old suspect, clad in a white shalwar-qameez, was brought with his face muffled to

the City court premises amid extraordinary security around 12:50pm.

The suspect, still muffled, was brought out from the court around 2:37pm and was taken away in

an armoured personnel carrier.

Hundreds of policemen, supervised by dozens of officers, had taken positions at different points

on the premises of the city courts since morning. The cops did not allow any motorcycle or

automobile inside the court premises.

Several policemen were put on guard on the rooftops, while many others were deployed on the

stairs, leading to the court of Judicial Magistrate Irum Jahangir on the third floor.

A large number of litigants and lawyers waited in the open for the whole day as they were not

allowed to get any close to the court of the judicial magistrate.

Several lawyers were also seen exchanging hot words with the deployed policemen.

February 23, 2002 Saturday Zilhaj 10, 1422

KARACHI: Pearls widow satisfied with investigation


KARACHI, Feb 22: Federal law minister Barrister Shahida Jameel said on Friday the widow of

Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl has expressed full satisfaction over the investigation

being conduct by the Pakistani authorities.

Talking to a group of journalists after visiting Mrs Pearl at the residence of Asra Naumani,

another staffer of the WSJ, the minister said she had come to visit Mrs Pearl on behalf of the

president.

Barrister Shahida said the widow of the US journalist and a representative of the WSJ praised the

efforts made by the police to resolve the case.

She said such incidents did occur in the past and the present government was giving top priority

to contain terrorism.

The minister said Mrs Pearl thanked the government for its support and for taking utmost interest

in the matter. Mrs Pearl expressed complete satisfaction over the course of investigation, she

added.

Sindh home secretary Mukhtar Ahmed and provincial police chief Syed Kamal Shah were also

present on the occasion.


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Earlier, police did not allow the journalists to enter even the laneleading to the residence of the WSJ staffer. The minister on her

way back was intercepted by a team of Pakistan Television.

To a question, the IGP said the police knew the captors and soon they would make abreakthrough.

He said the course of investigation was too complicated as the culprits never made phone calls

and confined themselves to the use of e-mail.

To another question, the IGP said the force of merely 24,000 police personnel was not sufficient

for Karachi, which has the population of over 13 million.

February 26, 2002 Tuesday Zilhaj 13, 1422

KARACHI: Court extends remand of suspects in Pearl case

By Our Reporter

KARACHI, Feb 25: The prime suspect in the Daniel Pearl case, Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh, and

two others told the Administrative Judge of the anti- terrorism courts on Monday that police hadforcibly obtained their signatures on blank papers, while police obtained their further remand for

14 days, till March 12.

Justice Shabbir Ahmed in his order directed police not to coerce the accused for obtainingconfessions nor signatures on blank papers during custody.

Ahmad Omar Saeed Shaikh, Mohammed Salman and Mohammed Adil were brought to theSindh High Court amid tight security with their faces muffled with white cloth, to obtain their

further remand from Justice Shabbir Ahmed, who is also the Administrative Judge of the anti-terrorism courts.

Police have made out a case under sections 365/A/302/109/34 PPC FIR 24/2002 read with

sections 7 (a) 8 (a) (b) (c) 11/A (a) (b) (c) 6 (2) (a) (b) (c) (e) (f), 11/H (324) 11/V (1) (a) (b) (2)

11/L (a) (b) 6/7 A (b) (c) (e) 11/H-2/ (a) 2 (b) 11/w (1) (2) 17 of ATA.

The suspects were taken to the chamber of Justice Ahmed, as hundreds of policemen lined up in


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the corridor to make way for the accused.

Afterwards Raja Qureshi, the Advocate-General Sindh, who was accompanied by the SPinvestigations II, Manzoor Mughal, and the investigation officer, told newsmen that police

obtained a further remand for 14 days under sub-section 5 of section 19 of the amended ATA

laws.

The police remand had been obtained to enable them to find the dead body of Daniel Pearl and

recover weapons, he said. Answering a question, he said it would not be an indefinite process.He claimed that the prosecution had discovered a new piece of evidence but did not present it

today before the Administrative Judge. It would be presented in the final challan, he said.

He claimed that the suspects told the Administrative Judge that they were not manhandled ortortured during custody.

While granting the remand, Justice Ahmed in his order said one of the accused, Ahmed Omar

Shaikh, had stated that during custody police had been pressured to obtain his confession and hissignature on blank paper which had been obtained. So was the statement of the two other

accused.

Justice Ahmed in his order also directed police not to coerce the accused and not to obtain their

signatures on blank paper during the remand.

Khawaja Naveed Ahmed, counsel for Salman and Adil, told newsmen after police obtained

remand that Omar Shaikh, who was composed and calm, told Justice Ahmed that he has been in

police custody for 20 days and now they are seeking my signatures for extracting my confession,which I do not want to make. Yesterday I was forced to sign blank papers. The other two

accused complained of the same, he said.

The prime suspect in the Daniel Pearl kidnapping case, Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh, had on Feb

14 stated before an ATC judge that as far as he understood the US journalist was dead.

He had also stated that I did kidnap him, adding: I dont want to defend the case.

Khawaja Naveed told newsmen that police had shown Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh, Syed Salman

Saqib, Mohammed Adil and Fahad Naseem in custody. Fahad has been remanded in jail custodyafter recording his section 164 statement.

The names of the absconders are Amjad Husain Farooqi alias Hyder Farooqi alias HasanMansoor, Asim alias Qasim, Hashim alias Arif, Hasan, Imtiaz Siddiqui, Ahmed Bhai and an

unknown person who took photographs of Daniel Pearl in captivity with camera and sent these

through e-mail to the international media.

The accused, who were handcuffed and hooded, were brought to the Sindh High Court about

1:30pm in an armoured personnel carrier of Garden police station. They were produced before

Justice Shabbir Ahmed in his chamber about 1:40pm and taken back about 1:55pm.


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Later on, Mohammed Saleem, elder brother of accused Shaikh Mohammed Adil, and his mother

complained that police were not letting them to meet the accused. According to them, about2:20am on Feb 5 plainclothes men, armed with Kalashnikov rifles, jumped into their house in

North Karachi and took Adil away. They went to Buffer Zone police station but could not get

any information. On Feb 6 they came to know of his arrest in the case through newspaperreports.

Adils brother said the accused, who had been associated with the Special Branch of police for13 years, had never taken bribe, and he had been associated with Jihad for about two years.

Salman Saqib, Fahad and Adil Shaikh, who have been linked with the high- profile kidnapping

case of Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl were arrested in Gulistan-i-Jauhar for theiralleged involvement in sending e-mail messages containing the abducted journalists pictures in

captivity, allegedly on the instruction of the prime suspect, Shaikh Omar Saeed.

February 27, 2002 Wednesday Zilhaj 14, 1422

KARACHI: Witness identifies Omar Shaikh in court

KARACHI, Feb 26: The prime suspect in US journalist Daniel Pearl kidnapping and murder

case, Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh, was on Tuesday identified by a prosecution witness during

identification parade held before the Judicial Magistrate Karachi South, Ms Erum Jehangir.

During the identification parade, no one, including the court staff, was permitted to come into the

office of the magistrate.

Omar Shaikh was brought to the court handcuffed and hooded by officials of the Investigation-II

police Karachi after court time. Police had blocked all passages leading to the court of the JMKarachi South situated on the second floor on the City Courts premises.

The court sources identified the prosecution witness as Asif. He is stated to be an Islamabad-

based journalist who arranged a meeting between Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl andOmar Shaikh in Islamabad in January.PPI

March 2, 2002 Saturday Zilhaj 17, 1422


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KARACHI: Another accused records statement: Daniel Pearl case

KARACHI, March 1: Judicial magistrate Karachi, South, Ms Erum Jehangir, on Friday recorded

the confessional statment of another accused in the U.S. journalist Daniel Pearls abduction andmurder case.

The accused, Syed Salman Saqib, was produced before the court amid tight security at about

11:15 am. He was wearing shalwar kamez and his face was covered with a peace of white cloth.His confessional statement ended at about 1:10 pm and he was sent to jail in an armoured

personnel carrier of the Pak Colony police station at about 1:20 pm.

According to the prosecution, the accused acted as a contact between the main accused AhmedOmar Shaikh and the co-accused Fahad Naseem who allegedly sent emails regarding the

abduction of Daniel Pearl.

No details were available regarding the confessional statement. However, the counsel for the

accused, Khwaja Naveed Ahmed, told newsmen in the premises of the City Courts that the

accused had perhaps stated his role in the crime.

According to Khwaja Naveed Ahmed, the magistrate had refused to supply to him and the police

the copies of the confessional statement and directed him to get the copies of the statements ofthe accused Fahad and Salman from the trial court, on the beginning of the trial.

This time the magistrate did not allow me to read the statement saying that I had disclosed the

confessional statement of the accused Fahad Nasim to the media, he said.

The defence counsel also stated that the accused had complained to the magistrate that he was

not feeling well due to his old injuries. The magistrate ordered the jail authorities to provide theaccused with all basic medical facilities. She also directed Khwaja Naveed to file an application

before the administrative judge of the Anti-Terrorism Courts regarding the medical treatment of

the accused.

Khwaja Naveed said that Salman had been in custody since February 11, 2002, while his

statement was recorded now. He added that any statement made after such a long period had no

value.

The administrative judge for the ATCs on February 25, 2002, had extended the police remand ofthree accused, Salman Saqib, Shaikh Muhammad Adil and Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh, tillMarch 12, 2002.

The fourth arrested accused, Fahad Nasim, had earlier recorded his confessional statement.PPI/APP

March 6, 2002 Wednesday Zilhaj 21, 1422


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KARACHI: Experts say...Police have no substantive evidence in Daniel case


KARACHI, March 5: Police have, so far, not made any substantive progress in their efforts to

arrest the killers of American journalist Daniel Pearl.

Although police and the government have taken the videotape as genuine in which the US

reporter is shown being slaughtered, section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code has not been

appended to the FIR 24/2002 dated Feb 5, registered at Artillery Maidan police station undersection 365-A read with section 7-A of the Anti-terrorism Act.

Dawn interviewed a number of senior police officials and prosecutors, including those engaged

in the investigation of Daniel Pearls kidnapping and killing case. They were of the view thatpolice did not have substantive evidence about the killing of Daniel Pearl which could be

produced in a court of law.

They said section 364 of PPC should be applied, instead of section 365-A of the ATA

(kidnapping for ransom), to the case. They said technically Daniel Pearl was not kidnapped buthe went somewhere to meet someone of his own free will where he was made captive. If a

person went of his own free will to meet someone somewhere and there he was confined illegally

and there were apprehensions that he might have been killed, then section 364 of PPC could be

applied. If the person was killed then section 302 of PPC could be applied, the senior officialssaid.

They said police had not found the body or remains of Daniel Pearl, nor had they recovered theweapon used in the killing. Also, police had not identified the place where the movie had been

shot and where the incident took place.

They expressed the opinion that the content of the videotape was also of doubtful nature as this

could be fictitious, and only this evidence could not be used in a court of law to substantiate the

claim of the prosecution that Daniel Pearl had been killed, they added.

They said it could well be argued that if the killers could send a videotape showing Daniels

killing, they could also send an electronic mail informing law-enforcement agencies about his

dead body. Without the recovery of body dead or its remains, the death of a person remaineddoubtful in the eyes of law, they maintained.

The FIR, on the complaint of Marianne Pearl, wife of Daniel Pearl, reporter of the Wall StreetJournal, was registered on Feb 5. Police arrested three suspects, Salman Saquib, Shaikh Adil and

Fahd Naseem, for their alleged involvement in sending an e-mail message containing Daniel

Pearls photographs in captivity, on Feb 5.


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Police showed the arrest of the key suspect, British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh, on Feb 12

in Punjab, but the suspect claimed in a court that he had offered himself for arrest on Feb 5.

A seat in the name of Daniel Pearl on a PIA flight, PK-757C, for London was reserved on Feb 4,

which was later cancelled on the passengers request on Feb 8. Police received a videotape

through the US Consulate in Karachi on Feb 21 in which Daniel Pearl is shown being killed.


KARACHI: Plea against Omars extradition disposed of

By Our Reporter

KARACHI, March 5: The constitutional petition, filed by wife of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh,prime suspect in the Daniel Pearl case, seeking a restraining order against his extradition, was on

Tuesday disposed of by a division bench of the Sindh High Court, comprising Justice Ghulam

Rabbani and Justice Zia Pervez.

Sadia Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh had filed the petition, through K. M. A. Samdani, for a writ of

mandamus against the respondents, restraining them from surrendering the petitioners husband

to the US authorities or any other foreign authority and from sending the petitioners husbandabroad without his consent.

The secretaries of interior and foreign affairs and the Sindh home secretary were maderespondents. Notices were issued to the deputy attorney general and the advocate-general, Sindh.

When the matter came up, counsel for respondents submitted before the court that ifrespondents decide to deliver the husband of the petitioner to the officers or authorities of a

foreign country, he will be delivered without any contravention of the law of the land.

After this statment, the bench in its order held that in view of the statment made on behalf of thegovernment, the learned counsel for the petitioner signifies his satisfaction and does not press his

petition. Petition stands disposed of accordingly, along with the listed application.

On Feb 25, the police had obtained extension in remand of the prime suspect until March 12 for

enabling it to trace the body of Daniel Pearl and recover weapons. On that date the detainee,

along with two others, had told the administrative judge for the anti-terrorism courts that thepolice had forcibly obtained signatures on blank papers.

The petitioner had claimed that the London-born detainee was a citizen of Pakistan whose

passport had been surrendered to the IGP Punjab. The petitioner and the detainee are parents of athree-month old baby.

It was the case of the petitioner that the detainee had nothing to do either with the kidnapping of


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Denial Pearl or his reported killing or any other crime for that matter.

As soon as the detainee learnt that he was wanted by the police, he surrendered himself on Feb 5to the IGP Punjab in the presence of the Punjab home secretary and DIG Police, Lahore range,

the petitioner had maintained.

As a student, the detainee visited Bosnia and Ethiopia with the aid convoys of Mercy, an NGO,

and engaged himself in other charity works to help the suffering Muslims all over the world.

He languished in the Indian jails for nearly six years in illegal incarceration where he was kept

despite the failure of Indian government to procure a conviction against him for trumped up

charges under TADA. He managed to return to Pakistan in 2000.

Referring to press reports of possible extradition of the detainee to the US, the petitioner had

maintained that the extradition of the detainee would be in violation of the provisions of the

Extradition Act, 1972. It would also be in violation of the constitutional guarantees.

It was the contention of the petitioner that if the allegation against the detainee was that he had

committed an offence within Pakistan, he had the right to defend himself against such falseaccusations in the courts of Pakistan. No court outside Pakistan has the right to try the detainee.

Sadia Omar Saeed Shaikh had taken the position that she and her baby son would be deeply

aggrieved if the detainee was forced to leave Pakistan as he was the sole bread-winner of thefamily.

It was, therefore, prayed that the court direct the respondents to refrain from surrendering thedetainee to any foreign authority and in particular to the authorities of US government in

contravention of the law of the land (particularly the Extradition Act, 1972) and the

constitutional guarantees (Particularly the guarantee enshrined in Article 15 thereof).

Under the 1972 Extradition Act, the country requesting extradition is required to place all the

relevant material before a judge to be appointed by the federal government.

March 7, 2002 Thursday Zilhaj 22, 1422

KARACHI: Prime witness identifies Omer Shaikh as Pearls kidnapper

By Tahir Siddiqui

KARACHI, March 6: The taxi driver, who had dropped Daniel Pearl near a hotel, identified on

Wednesday Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh, the prime suspect in the US journalist kidnapping case,as one of the kidnappers, before a judicial magistrate.

According to the cab driver, Nasir, as he dropped the Wall Street Journal reporter near the


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Metropole Hotel a white car appeared there. One of the four occupants of the car got down and

made Daniel Pearl sit in the car by holding his arm.

Court sources said the driver, who appeared as the prime witness for the prosecution, identified

Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh from the set of dummies during the identification parade before the

judicial magistrate, South, Irum Jahangir.

No reporter or lawyer was allowed to attend the court proceedings by the police, who took

positions at different points on the premises of the City courts.

According to the investigators, Nasir appeared as prosecution witness voluntarily.

The sources said the statement of driver Nasir under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Codecould not be recorded before the magistrate as the prime suspect wanted his attorney to be

present for the cross-examination of the witness before he deposed against him.

They said the prime suspect submitted before the magistrate that his relatives were not beingallowed to meet him and that he wanted to engage a lawyer for his defence.

The magistrate, the sources said, ordered the police authorities to arrange a meeting between

Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh and his relatives so that he could be represented in the court.

The senior superintendent of police, investigation, Manzoor Mughul, appeared before the courtand assured it that the meeting of Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh with his relatives would be

arranged accordingly.

She fixed March 9 for recording the statement of the prosecution witness under 164 CrPC.

Meanwhile, sources close to the investigation said that the specimens of the handwriting ofsuspects Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh and Adil Shaikh were also taken before the magistrate and

they were sent to the handwriting expert with the text of the email messages, written by the two

suspects, for verification.

They said Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh had prepared the email messages in English and Adil in

Urdu.

Earlier, the police authorities brought Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh, who was muffled with a piece

of cloth, to the City courts at around 1:40pm amid extra-ordinary security arrangements. He was

taken straight to the courtroom. Adil Shaikh was brought to the court at about 2:45pm.

Following the court proceedings, the police took the two suspects away at 3:10pm.

March 10, 2002 Sunday Zilhaj 25, 1422

KARACHI: Taxi driver records statement in court: Daniel Pearl case


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By Tahir Siddiqui

KARACHI, March 9: The star witness for the prosecution in the Daniel Pearl kidnapping case,who had earlier identified the prime suspect, Ahmed Umer Saeed Shaikh, as one of thekidnappers, recorded on Saturday his statement before a judicial magistrate.

Nasir Abbas, the 32-year-old taxi-driver, stated before the JM, South, Ms Irum Jahangir, on oaththat on Jan 23 he was having his car washed near the Do Talwar in Clifton. He said, in the

meantime, a taxi-driver, Faisal Afridi, came there and told him that some people needed two cabs

for Sheraton Hotel.

The cab-driver said he followed Afridi to pick up the passengers from Zamzama in Clifton where

a journalist, his wife and another woman were standing.

The journalist got into the front seat of my taxi and asked me to take him to Laxon Building. He

talked to me in English which I could not understand.

He said the woman, accompanying the couple, told him in Urdu to take the passenger to Laxon

Building, situated behind the PIA booking office.

The driver said he took the journalist to his destination. He said the journalist got down from the

cab, asking him to wait. After a short while, he returned and asked me to take him to the

Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) office, he said.

Nasir Abbas said he asked a man about the CPLC office as he did not know its address. The

man told me that it was at the offices of the SSP South.

He said he took the journalist to the SSP South office. He got down from the taxi and went into

the office, but returned immediately with a man, who told me that he wanted to go to the CPLC

office at the Governors House.

The cab-driver said he took the US journalist to the Governors House. He asked me to wait and

went inside.

He said Daniel Pearl returned after 45 minutes and asked him to go to Village Restaurant. Since

he spoke in English, I could not understand him, and then he told me to take him near Metropole

Hotel.

The driver said the US journalist asked him to stop when he reached Metropole Hotel. He was

talking on his mobile phone at that time. Then he got down from th taxi and asked me about thefare. I could not understand. I asked him to give me as much as he was wanted to. He took out a

Rs500-note. I was retuning him Rs200 when he nodded me to keep the change. In the

meanwhile, a white car, in which four people were travelling, stopped ahead of my cab. Thejournalist walked to that car and the man sitting with the driver in the front seat of the white car


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got down. The journalist shook hand with that man, who opened the rear door of his car and

made him sit in the car, the driver said.

Pointing to Ahmed Umer Saeed Shaikh, the driver said: The man who made the journalist sit in

the car is present in the courtroom and I recognise him.

Additional advocate-general Salman Habibullah appeared on behalf of the state for the statement

of the prosecution witness under section 164 of CrPC.

Saiful Malook, a Lahore-based attorney hired as defence counsel by the Shaikhs family,

appeared in the court. He, however, did not cross-examine the witness, though the court gave

him an opportunity to do so.

The judicial magistrate in her observations on the statement of the prosecution witness said the

defence counsel was given an opportunity to meet the accused, and he met him and discussed

with him for half an hour in my chamber.

However, later talking to newsmen on the premises of the City Courts, the defence counsel said

he had met his client for only five minutes in the presence of the JM. He said he refused to cross-examine the prosecution witness since he was not given a proper opportunity to seek

instructions from his client for the purpose.

He quoted his client as telling him and the magistrate that the investigation officer told him in themorning that there was no evidence against him, and that police were fabricating evidence

against him due to certain compulsion. Shaikh Umer also requested the court to call the

investigation officer and ask him on oath if he (the suspect) was telling lies.

Police had sealed off all entrances leading to the court of the judicial magistrate and they did not

allow anybody to attend the court proceedings.

Even Khawaja Naveed Ahmed, the counsel for other suspects, was not allowed to attend the

proceedings.

Talking to Dawn, the defence counsel said the statement of an accused under section 164 of

CrPC was to be recorded in the presence of all the accused in the case. In this case a piecemeal

process has been adopted, which is not only unprecedented, but also of no legal effect under thelaw of the land, he said.

Mr Khawaja said the opportunity to cross-examine a prosecution witness was to be provided toall the other accused or their counsel in the case as the interest of all the accused is common.

He said any statement made or any question asked of the witness could adversely affect the caseof other accused. In the present case neither the accused were produced in court, nor their

counsel given an opportunity to cross-examine the prosecution witness.

Police brought the prime suspect, clad in a light sky-blue shalwar-qamees with his face muffled,


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to the court amid strict security under the supervision of the senior superintendent of police,

investigation, Manzoor Ahmed Mughul, around 1:50pm.

March 12, 2002 Tuesday Zilhaj 27, 1422

KARACHI: Court allows counsel to meet accused: Daniel Pearl case

KARACHI, March 11: Justice Shabbir Ahmed of the High Court of Sindh, who is also theadministrative judge of anti-terrorism courts for Karachi division, allowed on Monday counsel to

meet two accused in the Daniel Pearl kidnapping and murder case.

Khawaja Naveed Ahmed, advocate, moved an application seeking permission of the court tomeet undertrial prisoners Fahd Nasim and Syed Salman Saqib to seek instructions and to prepare

their defence.

After hearing the counsel, the judge passed the order: The counsel is allowed to meet his above

clients in jail in accordance with the jail rules.

Both accused in their confessional statements reportedly confessed their involvement in sending

e-mails to media organizations containing the pictures of Daniel Pearl, reporter of the Wall Street

Journal, in captivity.

They also confessed that they sent two e-mails on the directives of the main accused in the case,Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh.APP/PPI


KARACHI: Omars remand extended in Daniel case

By Our Reporter

KARACHI, March 12: Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, prime suspect in the Daniel Pearl case, told

the court on Tuesday that if he is killed in a fake encounter at the behest of the US, Americawould suffer.

He claimed that if he is extradited to that US, it would return him the same way as India haddone.


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He made this statment when the prosecution obtained extension in his police remand as a last

chance for another 10 days until March 22 from Justice Shabbir Ahmed of the Sindh High

Court, who is also administrative judge of the Anti-Terrorism Courts in Karachi.

Amid tight security, Ahmed Omar Shaikh and Shaikh Adil were brought to the court handcuffed,

with their faces muffled, in an armoured personnel carrier at 1pm.

Two other accused Fahad Nasim and Salman Saqib were earlier remanded to judicial custody by

a judicial magistrate after recording their confessional statements.

The police have made out a case under sections 365/A/302/109/34 PPC FIR 24/2002 read with 7

(a) 8 (a) (b) (c) 11/A (a) (b) (c) 6 (2) (a) (b) (c) (e) (f), 11/H (324) 11/V (1) (a) (b) (2) 11/L (a) (b)

6/7 A (b) (c) (e) 11/ H-2/ (a) 2(b) 11/w (1) (2) 17 ATA.

The names of absconding accused are Amjad Hussain Farooqi alias Hyder Farooqi alias Hasan

Mansoor, Asim alias Qasim, Hashim alias Arif, Hasan, Imtiaz Siddiqui, Ahmed Bhai and an

unknown person who took photographs of Daniel Pearl in captivity and sent them through e-mailto the international media.

The two accused were taken to the chambers of the administrative judge where advocate-general

Sindh, Raja Qureshi, representing the state, sought further remand of the accused on the premise

that further investigation is required to be done. SSP Investigations-II Manzoor Mughal and

investigating officer were also present.

Khwaja Naveed Ahmed, counsel of Shaikh Adil, told reporters later that he opposed the

extension plea on the ground that in the circumstances of the present case, Section 19(5) of theATA ordinance was not applicable for extension in remand.

His contention was that the prosecution had not produced any charge-sheet. He said that Omarfiled an application before the administrative judge seeking permission to meet anyone of his

family member, on which the court issued notice to AG Sindh for March 16.

The administrative judge of the ATC also asked the AG Sindh to provide further evidence for

justifying the extension in police remand. Justice Shabbir Ahmed adjourned the matter for 10

minutes.

Raja Qureshi told reporters that he contended before Justice Shabbir Ahmed that experts

evidence from the FBI is to be secured and weapons of offence are also to be secured.

He further informed the administrative judge that till the date confessional statements of the

accused had been recorded, identification parade had been held and the petition of the accused

(Omar) had been disposed of by a division bench of the High Court on the stand taken on behalfof the state that if and when a decision is taken to extradite him (Omar), it would be done without

contravention of the law of the land.

He further submitted that hand-writing experts opinion had already been obtained, whereas


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video cassette was under examination by the experts and arrests of the

absconding accused were yet to be made.

Raja Qureshi stated that accused persons have been operating in different names

and identities, which are required to be ascertained in the process of

investigation. The AG Sindh submitted that absconding accused possessedNational Identification Cards (NICs) under four names and, therefore, their

arrest was a difficult task.

While recording the order of remand, Justice Ahmed extended the remand up to

March 22 as a last chance. The Administrative Judge further recorded the

statment of the AG on apprehension expressed by the accused that he shall only

be extradited if and when decided to be handed over to some officer or authorities of a foreigncountry, and they he shall be delivered without contravention to law of the land.

Justice Ahmed also recorded the statment of the accused in the order of remand to the effect that

if he is extradited, America will return him the same way as India had returned him andAmerica will suffer if I am killed in false encounter at their behest. As a last chance, police

remand is extended up to March 22, 2002.

Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl went missing on Jan 23 in Karachi and on Feb

22, it was announced that he was dead, after a videotape containing scenes of his killing were

received by the authorities.

On Feb 25, when the prime suspect and others were produced before the administrative judge, he

had extended their police remand till March 12.

Prime suspect Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and two others had told the administrative judge of

the Anti-Terrorism Court that the police had forcibly obtained their signatures on blank papers.

Salman Saqib, Fahad and Adil Shaikh, who have been linked with the high profile kidnapping

case of Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl, were arrested in Gulistan-i-Johar for theiralleged involvement in sending some E-mail messages containing abducted journalists pictures

in captivity, allegedly on the instruction of prime suspect Shaikh Omar Saeed.

March 16, 2002 Saturday Muharram 1, 1423

KARACHI: Five women, three men arrested for kidnapping: 11 babies

recovered


KARACHI, March 15: Police recovered 11 kidnapped children, four boys and seven girls, whose


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ages ranged from two months to three years, from a bungalow in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Friday and

arrested five women and three men.

A senior police officer said police raided a spotted bungalow, No A-29, in Block 13-D in

Gulshan-i-Iqbal after they received information about the presence of kidnapped children. Police

found 11 children, and five women and three men there. The latter had been taken into custody.The children were about to be smuggled out of the country.

The children were sent to the Edhi Child Home in Mithadar.

Those arrested have been identified as Dennis Chance, Derrick Chance, their mother, Joyce

Chance; Joseph Aziz, and four nannies, Shazia, Nasreen, Parveen and Zeenat.

The sources said carriers of six children had been arrested in 1998 by the FIA immigration at the

Quaid-i-Azam International Airport. Dennis Chance had appeared in court and claimed to be

father of those six children. The court asked him to prove his contention, but he had not turned

up at the court since.

The city police chief, Asad Jehangir, said: We have come to know that suspects/accused hadbeen arrested in 1998, and we are investigating into it.

Faisal Edhi of the Edhi Foundation said the 11 children had been lodged at the Edhi Child Home

in Mithadar and parents of none of these had contacted them so far.

He said six babies had been recovered in 1998, and they were sent to the Edhi Child Home. Five

of the children were still in the Child Home and one of them had been adopted by a childlesscouple. He said none of the parents of the six children had, so far, contacted the Edhi

Foundation.

He said in the majority of such cases children were bought from poverty- stricken parents, and if

their children were recovered, they did not want to claim them for fear of arrest or interrogation.

We are not hopeful that the parents of these 11 children will contact us after the news appears in

the press. However, I appeal to the parents of a two-month-old girl to contact us as she is not

having milk as she might be on breast-feeding. She is crying and keeps fainting. She is not

drinking even water, or anything else. If she will not have milk, she may die, a worried FaisalEdhi said.

During initial investigation, the suspects told police that poverty-stricken people or those whohad illegitimate child dropped their child outside churches. They gave them to childless couples

abroad, the suspects added.

Another senior police officer said these children might have been kidnapped in hospitals in the

city and were about to be smuggled to Malta.

Derrick Chances wife was in Malta and she had sent adoption papers, carrying stamps of


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attestation from Maltas foreign office.

Police also recovered 13 passports from the possession of the suspects, which were issued fromHyderabad. Fake birth certificates had also been recovered, police said.

Police said the children were to be smuggled to Malta, where one child was to be sold for20,000-30,000 US dollars (Rs1.2-Rs1.8 million).

DIG Investigation Fayyaz Leghari said: We do not have any case about disappearance orkidnapping of children at any of the police stations in the city.

Asked about the possibility of parents approaching police but the latter refusing to register cases,

the city police chief ruled out this possibility and said: We always take up this matter seriously,and no case about kidnapping or disappearance of children has been registered.


KARACHI: Decision on Omars extradition after Musharrafs return

By Shamim-ur-Rahman

KARACHI, March 15: The question of extraditing the main accused in the Daniel Pearl case,

Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh, to the United States, and implications of his indictment by the US

authorities will be examined at the highest level on return of President Musharraf from hisforeign tour, highly- placed sources said here on Friday.

Six days before the Pakistani prosecution could have framed charges against Omar and others tobegin the trial, the US Attorney-General, John Ashcroft, announced on Thursday that a grand

jury had indicted Omar for the kidnapping and murder of Pearl and abduction of an American in

India in 1994.

A meeting of senior officials of the Sindh government had already taken place with the federal

authorities in Islamabad after the Sindh High Court granted extension in remand as a last

chance, the sources said.

Authorities were mindful of Omars statement before the administrative judge of the ATC on

Tuesday wherein he had maintained that if he was killed in a false encounter at the behest of theUSA, the latter would suffer. In this context, they also examined the security of the interned

accused and their safety was being augmented.

Asked to state the official position, the Advocate-General Sindh, Raja Qureshi, said the lawwould take its own course and emphasized that he had no knowledge or instructions, so far,

about the decision or otherwise of Omars extradition. He said no law of the land would be

violated if a decision was made to fall back on the Extradition Act of 1972.


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As regards the existence of extradition treaty, Justice Shafiur Rahman in Mohammed Azam

Malik Vs Government of Pakistan case had observed that we find on the record the extraditiontreaty itself which is dated 26nd of December 1931 and it had been ratified by the government of

the United States and Great Britain and in the United States Code Annotated, Title 18,

Cumulative Annual Pocket Part for use in 1983 are listed bilateral treaties of extradition betweenthe United States and the other governments... He had also cited the entries in respect of

Pakistan.

Talking to the media, the AG had appeared to be confident that the prosecutions case had been

established to make a complete charge and to establish the guilt to arrive at conclusive

convictions.

He said experts evidence from the FBI was to be secured, weapons of offence was also to be

secured. He said confessional statements of the accused had been recorded, identification parade

been held, the petition of the accused (Omar) been disposed of by a division bench of the SHC

on the stand taken on behalf of the state that if and when it was decided to extradite him (Omar),that would be done without the violation of the law of the land.

He had further submitted that handwriting experts opinion had already been obtained, and the

video cassette was under examination by experts and arrest of the absconding accused were yet

to be made.

Legal experts however point out the fact that none of the accused had, so far, agreed to become

an approver and the investigators had not yet recovered anything from them which was

possessed by Pearl, to link them with his kidnapping or murder. Dead body or its remains havenot yet been found.

The present case had not yet reached the trial stage. It was still in the investigation stage. Itwould attain the trial stage once charge had been framed and the judge had taken cognizance of

the charges, the experts said.

The legal position was that in case trial of the accused had begun, then the proceedings had to be

completed. If conviction had been awarded, it had to be served before he was handed over to

another country, they said.

The legal community was concerned whether history would repeat itself like the case of Aimal

Kasee and Yousuf Ramzi, or the Pakistan authorities would follow the procedure as was done by

the USA while extraditing Admiral Mansoorul Haq (retd).

The counsel for the three co-accused, Khwaja Naveed Ahmed, has taken the position that the US

has no territorial jurisdiction to try Omar for the kidnapping and murder of Pearl.

Referring to the indictment by the US authorities, the counsel asked whether or not its purpose

was to frustrate the intent and purpose of the clauses of the treaty between Pakistan and the

USA?


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He said the question lurked in the mind why indictment had

been chosen at this stage while it was fully well known thatOmar had been involved in the hijacking of an Indian plane.

Question was asked whether the criminal court proceedingscould be allowed to compromise sovereignty of the country and whether extraditing one

individual could make the remaining accused to wait for being confronted with the rigours of

trial.

You cannot proceed in criminal trial in a piecemeal manner. You cannot exclude the principal

accused and proceed with the trial of co-accused alone against whom the maximum charge could

be of abetment or sharing common intention with the principal accused. In case you exclude theprincipal accused, charge on other accused will be difficult to frame, said Mr Khwaja.

It was also asked whether the same yardstick could be applied for the appreciation of evidence to

cases of terrorism and ordinary cases of criminal jurisprudence.

The question was also raised whether the material available with the prosecution in Pakistan wasof a nature which could be admissible in proceedings before a court in the USA.

Whether the material available with the FBI would be given preference to the material collected

by the investigating agencies in Pakistan?

It was also pointed out whether surrendering a person to be tried by a jury system in a foreign

country would be appropriate or otherwise, despite the fact that the jury system in Pakistan hadbeen abolished more than a decade ago.

Saiful Malook, the Lahore-based counsel for Omar, termed the indictment of his client by the USauthorities absurd. He was of the view that the indictment of Omar for abducting a US citizen in

India was a violation of international law and amounted to double jeopardy. During his captivity

in India nothing had been proved against him in the shape of legal evidence, Malook said, addingOmar could not be tried twice for the same offence.


KARACHI: Omar, co-accused remanded in judicial custody

By Shamim-ur-Rahman

KARACHI, March 22: Amid tight security the principal accused, Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh,and co-accused Adil Shaikh in the Daniel Pearl case were remanded in judicial custody by the

judge of an anti-terrorism court on Friday, as the prosecution submitted the interim challan

against the principal accused and 10 others in a proceeding from which the media and everyone


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else was barred.

The Advocate-General Sindh, Raja Qureshi, submitted the interim challan before Judge ArshadNoor Khan of the ATC who, while admitting the challan, asked the prosecution to submit the

final challan on March 29 and produce all the four accused in custody on that date.

They have been charged with kidnapping for ransom, murder, and terrorism coupled with

conspiracy for which, if convicted, they could be awarded death penalty.

The accused were booked under section 365-A (kidnapping for ransom), 368 (Wrongfully

concealing or keeping in confinement, kidnapping), 302 (murder/Qatl-i-amd), 205 (False

personation), 120 A (Criminal conspiracy) and Section 34 of PPC.

The other sections against the accused include section 7 (A), B (a) (b), (c), 6 (2), (b), (c),(e), (f),

11 V (1) (a), (b) (2), 11 L (a), (b), 7 (a), (b), (e), 11 H (2), (a), 11 W (1), (2), and 7 ATA.

The accused are Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh alias Muzaffar Farooq, Shaikh Mohammed Adil,Salman Saqib, Fahad Nasim, and seven absconders, Amjad Husain Farooqi alias Haider Farooqi

alias Hasan, Asif alias Qasim, Hashim, Qari Abdul Qadeer, Hasan alias Ahmed Bhai, ImtiazSiddiqui and a person who bought a Polaroid camera. The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel

Pearl went missing on Jan 23 in Karachi and on Feb 22 he was declared dead after the authorities

received and examined a videotape containing visuals of him being killed.

The counsel of the two accused present in the court, Omar and Adil, who were not present, were

provided the copy of the interim challan, and the AG Sindh undertook to provide copies to the

other two co-accused who are in jail custody.

The ATC Judge, Arshad Noor, in his order, said: Accused Fahad Naseem and Salman Saquib

have not been produced by jail authorities. Issue production order for them. Interim challan byprosecution is accepted with the further direction to submit final challan in seven days till March

29 instant. The copies of prosecutions case have been supplied to the accused present in court

under section 265 (c) of CrPC and receipt obtained.

Raja Qureshi, the Advocate-General, Sindh, has undertaken that copies should be supplied to

accused in judicial custody in jail today. Accused are remanded to judicial custody till 29-3-

2002.

The prosecution has relied on circumstantial evidence and showed recovery of two e-mails, one

in Urdu, one scanner, one laptop computer and its hard disc photograph of Pearl, a videocassette, receipt of purchase of the scanner, receipt of the purchase of the Polaroid camera and

two National Identity Cards.

The prosecution has also stated that though dead body of Pearl and the weapon of his murder

have not yet been recovered, but there are possibilities of the recovery of the dead body of the

American journalist.


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The prosecution has also stated that genuineness of the video tape showing Pearls murder was

confirmed by PTV engineers who examined the tape with the permission of the General

Manager, Karachi TV.

The prosecution has also attached confessional statements of the two co- accused, Fahad Nasim

and Salman Saquib, who are in judicial custody, along with the statements of two witnesses.

The AG, who was accompanied by SSP Investigation Manzoor Mughal, later told newsmen that

a list of 31 prosecution witnesses, including FBI officials, had been submitted along with theinterim challan. Names of FBI personnel were not mentioned in the interim challan.

The list of prosecution witnesses include the name of Mariane Pearl, who lodged the FIR of her

husbands abduction, police inspector Javed Abbas, head constable Ashiq Ali, Nasir Abbas,Faisal Khan Afridi, CPLC chief Jameel Yousuf, Asif Mehfooz Farooqi (journalist), Mehmood

Iqbal, Naeem Ahmed, Zaheer Ahmed, Chaudhary Nazar Husain, ASI Noor Mohammed, head

constable Mohammed Iqbal, Mohammed Arif Zakaria, Rajesh Kumar, Abdul Majeed, DSP

Investigation-II Ather Rasheed Butt, DSP Asghar Osman, inspector Rao Aslam, Faisal Noor,Colonel Osman (retd), an official of Mobilink.

Mr Qureshi said once the court had examined and admitted the final challan and framed charges,

trial of the accused would begin. The formal trial will begin on March 29, he added.

Under the law, trial has to be completed in seven days. It is not yet clear whether thecomplainant, Mrs Pearl, who is pregnant, would be in a position to undertake the journey soon to

enable the prosecution here to complete the trial within the mandated time frame.

Asked about Omars Feb 14 statement before Judge Arshad Noor that he had masterminded

Pearls abduction and declared that he believed Pearl was dead, Mr Qureshi said it was

extrajudicial statement, though it could be used against him.

According to sources, when Omar drew the attention of the court to his handwritten application

with a request for allowing him to meet his relations, the prosecution contended that now that hehad been remanded in jail custody, he should route his request through the jail authorities, as per

rules.

Several hundred policemen posted at the roadsides and on roof tops in and around the courtpremises and about two dozen police mobiles were used to escort the APC in which the two

accused were brought to the court.

Omar and Adil were supposed to be produced before Justice Shabbir Ahmed, the Administrative

Judge of the anti-terrorism courts, who had granted extension in police custody until March 22

as a last chance. But as he was indisposed and at present sitting on the Hyderabad circuitbench, he could not come. Therefore, the Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court asked the AG to

submit the interim challan before Judge Arshad Noor.

Adils brother Shaikh Aslam and his mother, who wanted to see him, were also not allowed


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inside the court premises despite attempts by a local lawyer to seek the courts permission.

Aslam said I and mother wanted to know about Adils welfare. He said he approached manyofficials, but to no avail.

The counsel for some of the co-accused, Khawaja Naveed Ahmed said he later filed anapplication before the ATC judge claiming that Salman Saqib had told him that he was suffering

from hepatitis and passing blood in stool.

The judge ordered the jail authorities to submit report on the next date.

Khawaja Naveed claimed that dead body of Pearl had not be recovered, cause of death was not

known, place of murder had not be established, weapon of offence had not been recovered, norhad his place of confinement been identified.

The statement of the taxi-driver and identification of the principal accused by him and the

handwriting experts report could safely be labelled created pieces of evidence and no convictioncould be based on such evidence.

March 25, 2002 Monday Muharram 10, 1423

KARACHI: A team of counsel to defend Omar

By Our Reporter

KARACHI, March 24: Lahore-based lawyer Saiful Malook said here on Saturday that the

principal accused in the Daniel Pearl case, Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh, would be defended by ateam of counsel once the prosecution filed the final challan and charges were framed against all

the accused.

Counsel Malook was sceptical about the presence of any one of his team members here onMarch 29 when the prosecution is required to submit the final challan in the case. The

prosecution, nevertheless, would do so before that date.

He told Dawn that when the final challan was submitted the court would be bound to provide its

copy and the accused would have seven days to raise their defence.

Omar, he said, would be defended by a team of lawyers who were working on the case, though

so far they were not in possession of a copy of even the interim challan.

The judge of an anti-terrorism court on Friday sent Omar, along with a co- accused, Adil Shaikh,to prison after the prosecution submitted interim challan against them and nine others, charging

them with kidnapping for ransom, murder and terrorism coupled with conspiracy.


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April 5, 2002 Friday Muharram 21, 1423

KARACHI: Plea against jail trial of Omar dismissed

By Our Reporter

KARACHI, April 4: As the trial of the accused in Daniel Pearls murder case opens inside

Central Prison here on Friday, a division bench of the Sindh High Court, on Thursday, dismissed

Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikhs petition challenging the Sindh government notification in this

regard.

The division bench comprised Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court, Justice Saiyed Saeed

Ashhad and Justice Ghulam Rabbani.

The bench, however, put the Advocate General Sindh on notice for April 10, in another

application in which the principal accused had contended that the presiding judge of the Anti-Terrorism Court III, Arshad Noor Khan, cannot conduct the trial as he had himself become

witness to certain statements attributed to Omar Shaikh when he was produced before Mr Khan

for remand purposes.

At the outset of the proceedings, the SHC CJ, Saiyed Saeed Ashhad, asked Omars counsel,

Abdul Waheed Katpar, as to why he had not complied with office objections and that he should

have first gone there.

The counsel read out the provincial governments notification for holding trial in the jail

premises, and contended that it did not mention any ground for such trial.

He cited Section 15 of the ATA Act pertaining to place of sitting. His contention was that it

means the trial should be held at an open place. He also cited sections 22 and 17 of the said act.

Referring to the relevant section of the ATA Act, Mr Katpar said that its spirit is that the trial be

held openly and publicly.

The bench asked the counsel to point out any illegality in the impugned notification issued by the

Sindh Home Secretary.

Omars counsel said that no ground is given in the notification justifying holding of trial inside

Central Prison, Karachi.

He also referred to the trials of two former premiers late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Mian

Muhammed Nawaz Sharif and said that the accused and petitioner will be prejudiced in case

of a jail trial. Disagreeing with the contentions of Mr Katpar, the AG Sindh, Raja Qureshi,


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referred to Section 15(2) of the ATA Act that deals with sitting of the court. But his main

reliance was on Section 21(1) (A) of the ATA Act which says that proceedings may be held in

camera, or under restricted entry of members of the public, necessary for the protection of judge,witnesses or a victims family members, or to prevent persons from crowding or storming the

court to intimidate the judge.

His contention was that the sitting of ATA judge in jail was duly notified. He said that trial in a

jail or a private house will be deemed to be an open trial in law. Restrictions are aimed at

providing security and for regulating entry. But that wouldnt mean that the trial does not ceaseto be open. His contention was that while regulating entry, one has to take note of the capacity of

the courtroom.

The AG submitted that the jail is not a prohibited place for criminal trial, nor can it be called anillegal trial. A jail trial, he said, was being held for reasons of security to the parties, witnesses,

prosecution and defence.

He emphasized that there should not be any veil of secrecy nor there should be any impressionthat it is a secret trial. Dynamics of the judicial process should be thrown open to the public,

that should have reasonable access to the court, so long as the presiding judge is in full controland the accused have all the facilities to defend themselves.

In the context of a jail trial, he cited the cases of Murtaza Bhutto, Asif Zardari, Indira Gandhi,

etc.

Omars counsel submitted that when his clients father went to jail, he was denied access despite

court orders.

The bench, nevertheless, dismissed the petition for reasons to be recorded later. Observers

termed it as a jolt to the defence counsel ahead of the trial.

But when Mr Katpar tried to take up another connected matter, in which he had maintained that

Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC was not competent to preside, the Chief Justice observed itas time-wasting tactics. He fixed the matter for April 10.

Another defence counsel, Mohsin Imam, later said that the defence wants an open and fair trial,

and said that his side would not boycott the proceedings. He said that the accused were innocentand unless proved guilty, would remain innocent.

Counsel for the principal accused in the Daniel Pearl murder case, Ahmad Saeed Omar Shaikh,had, on Tuesday, moved another application in the SHC, contending that Judge Arshad Noor

Khan of the ATC-III is not competent to try this case.

In this context, the counsel had maintained that it has been stated in the margin against the

above-mentioned four PWs, under a bracket, that when accused Omar Shaikh was taken to the

court of Judge Arshad Noor Khan to obtain his remand, the principal accused had stated: I have

abducted Daniel Pearl; Daniel Pearl is dead; I do not wish to defend myself and I know I


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will be extradited to the USA.

Thus, the prosecution had itself made Arshad Noor Khan a witness in the case. It is immaterialwhether they examine him as a witness or not. The fact remains that Judge Khan has been made

a witness in the case, the applicant claimed.

As such, without any fault on his part, Judge Arshad Noor Khan happens to be disqualified from

trying this case, against accused Omar Shaikh, the applicants counsel contended.

Under the ATA law, a trial has to be completed in seven days, but in view of the pregnancy of

Daniel Pearls wife, it does not seem possible.

The accused are Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh alias Muzzafar Farooq, Shaikh Muhammad Adil,Salman Saqib, Fahad Nasim and the seven absconders, namely Amjad Hussain Farooqi alias

Haider Farooqi alias Hasan, Asif alias Qasim, Hashim, Qari Abdul Qadeer, Hasan alias Ahmed

Bhai, Imtiaz Siddiqui, and a person who purchased a Polaroid camera. The accused, if convicted,

could be awarded death penalty.

Thirty-six prosecution witnesses have been cited in the final Challan. The thirty-six prosecutionwitnesses include the wife of murdered American journalist of the Wall Street Journal, Marianne

Pearl, who had lodged the FIR of her husbands abduction; Randel D. Bennet, regional security

officer, US Consulate, Karachi; John Loligan, FBI agent and Ronald Joseph, the computer expert

who authenticated the e-mails sent by the abductors of the late Mr Pearl.

The accused have been charged under Section 365-A (kidnapping for ransom), 368 (wrongfully

concealing or keeping in confinement, kidnapping), 302 (murder/Qatl-i-amd), 205 (falsepersonation), 120 A (criminal conspiracy) and Section 34 of the PPC.

The other sections against the accused include sections 7A, B (a) (b), (c); 6 (2), (b), (c), (e), (f);11 V (1), (a), (b) (2); 11 L (a), (b); 7 (a), (b), (e); 11 H (2), (a); 11 W (1), (2) and 7 ATA. If

convicted, they could be awarded death penalty.

In the present case, the dead body of Daniel Pearl has not been recovered, cause of death is

unknown, place of murder has not be established, weapon of offence has not be recovered, nor

has the place of confinement been identified.

The Wall Street Journal correspondent, Daniel Pearl, went missing on Jan 23, 2002, in Karachi

and on Feb 22, he was declared dead after authorities received and examined a videotape

containing visuals of him being killed.

April 6, 2002 Saturday Muharram 22, 1423

KARACHI: Judge issues warrants for arrest of absconders: Omar Shaikhs trial

begins


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KARACHI, April 5: The formal proceedings of the Daniel Pearl kidnapping case commenced onFriday inside the Central Prison, Karachi. No reporter or observer was allowed to attend the

proceedings by the authorities.

Ahmed Saeed Omar Shaikh, the alleged mastermind of Pearls Jan 23 kidnapping, and three co-defendants Salman Saqib, Fahad Naseem and Adil Shaikh were produced before Judge

Arshad Noor Khan of ATC-3 who issued non-bailable warrants for the arrest of seven

absconding accused.

The judge put off the hearing of the case till 12th when the accused persons, who face charges of

murder, kidnapping and terrorism, are expected to be formally indicted in the case by the court.

The absconding accused are: Amjad Hussain Farooqui alias Haider Farooqui alias Hasan, Asif

alias Qasim, Hashim, Qari Abdul Qadeer, Hasan alias Ahmed Bhai, Imtiaz Siddiqui and a personwho purchased the Polaroid camera.

The authorities even did not allow six local journalists, who had obtained a court order on their

application for attending the court proceedings.

According to the order No. ATC-111/K/1047/2002, issued on Thursday by Judge Arshad Noor

Khan, the court allowed the six reporters of the local newspapers to cover the proceedings for 5-4-2002 and directed the jail superintendent to allow them to attend the court on the aforesaid

date at about 10am.

Later, Khawaja Naveed Ahmed, counsel for Adil Shaikh and Fahad Naseem, briefed the curiousjournalists upon the court proceedings.

He said accused Salman Saqib addressed the court like a Khatib (orator) and complained abouttorture in custody.

According to Saqib, the police slapped him on the face for 350 times and hit him with a whipfor 450 times during custody, the counsel said.

The counsel quoted Salman Saqib as telling the court that he had been in Jehad in Kashmirwhere he was also wounded. He (Saqib) said his wounds were bleeding due to police tort

Documents

Abduction Cases