M A I N   N E W S

No proof yet of India’s involvement: Pak

Islamabad, February 2
Pakistan’s Interior Minister, Moinuddin Haider said today that Islamabad had not yet got a conclusive proof but only indications about India’s involvement in kidnapping of US journalist Daniel Pearl and revealed it was still not clear to whom the alleged suspect in the case made telephone calls in India.

Mr Haider in an interview to the Resident Correspondent of the Middle East Broadcasting Centre here said, “We do not have conclusive evidence as yet to surely say anything but there are indications that India is behind the kidnapping of the US journalist.

Significantly, Mr Haider said no phone calls were made to India from the mobile of the alleged key suspect in the case, Muharak Shah Gilani, but from a telephone call card called jazz card. Also it was not clear to whom the phone calls were made, he said.

Mr Haider’s comments were in variance with the remarks made by Pakistan Foreign Minister, Abdul Sattar who said in Berlin yesterday that Gilani called some persons occupying important positions in India.

Mr Sattar was quoted by the international agencies as saying that Gilani had made a number of foreign calls and included among the numbers that he had called in India were numbers of persons who occupied certain important positions in the Indian Government.

Mr Haider also said Gilani who headed a wealthy Al-Fuqra organisation told the police that he was not contacted either by Pearl for an interview or by any of his fixers.

Mr Haider also said Pakistan was not only cooperating with the USA to deal with terrorism and to hand over suspected terrorists but “also handing over certain nationals to their respective countries.”

Answering another question, Mr Haider, however, said Pakistan would not hand over any person to India figuring in the list of 20 criminals and terrorists handed over by India before New Delhi came to negotiation table to discuss the names of Indian nationals in the wanted list.

“Pakistan is ready to discuss the issue of Indian nationals, if found”. But, he said, no Pakistani would be handed over to India.

There are 14 Indian nationals in the list given by India, which included Mumbai underworld don, Dawood Irabhim. PTI

Pearl alive, claims new e-mail

Islamabad, February 2
The mystery over kidnapping of the US journalist Daniel Pearl took a new turn here today with a new e-mail message claiming that he was alive and dismissing earlier messages that he had been killed, forcing the police in Karachi to comb cemeteries in the city.

The new e-mail message on the kidnapped US journalist, received by Jang Group Online and other top media organisations here claimed the earlier message, alleged to have been sent by his abductors stating that he was dead was fake and said he was alive.

The new e-mail message from an unidentified person, displayed on the Jang website this evening said, “I am sorry. I sent the e-mail in which the deadline of Daniel. Please pardon me. It was a fake mail. It also reveals another fact that the last mail is also a fake mail. I had a big burden on my conscience.”

In New York, ‘The Wall Street Journal’ said it believed that Pearl was still alive, despite the message which said he had been killed.

“Based on reports from Pakistan, we now believe that both messages received yesterday about Danny were false. We continue to believe that Danny is alive,” Managing Editor Paul Steiger said in a statement.

“Yet we have not heard from Danny’s captors in two or three days,” he said.

The new e-mail message also said the facilitator namely “Arif” was killed because the group thought it was sent from him. “Please don’t try to trace this mail. Pearl is (may be) alive and make real efforts to get him out.”

Arif, alias Hashim, was one of the key suspect who reportedly died in Afghanistan days before the police raided his house in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Officials here declined to comment on the new message which raised hopes that the US journalist was alive.

The new e-message came even as the Pakistan Government declined to comment on the status of the investigations as well as reports of his execution, while hundreds of policemen listlessly combed scores of cemeteries in Karachi to locate his body.

Pearl’s alleged captors had earlier claimed that he was executed and the body could be collected from one of the cemeteries in Karachi. PTI