Pakistan arrests Pearl murder suspect

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

Pakistani police have arrested two Islamic militants, including one suspected of involvement in the kidnap and killing of U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl, an officer says.

The two men, Sajid Jabbar and Mohammad Athar, were arrested in an overnight raid in the port city of Karachi and belong to the outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group, Fayyaz Leghari, chief of the investigation branch of Karachi police, told Reuters.

Another senior officer, who did not want to be identified, said Jabbar was suspected of involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Pearl in 2002 as well as several other militant attacks.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=460022§ion=news

I was actually going to post the following from today's Independent, but when searching for it online I came by the above story.

My fight for Danny's memory

Daniel Pearl was murdered in 2002 while reporting for the Wall Street Journal in Pakistan. For his wife, Mariane Pearl, the lonely battle for justice continues

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=492014

[RainDog]

1. kick this one back up.

I'm bookmarking for later. didn't want this one to get lost in the primary stuff.

I wonder if these guys are tied in with the guy Paul was talking about at unansweredquestions?

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

2. Not sure who you mean re Paul/unanswered questions

but if it's Omar Saeed/Said Sheikh, then I was pleased to see Mariane Pearl highlighting some of his spookiness:

"Omar's appeal has since been delayed nine times, mostly for the simple reason that his lawyer doesn't show up in court. It's all far from over. Even behind bars, his influence is thought to remain great. Some reports have suggested that he helped orchestrate the recent assassination attempts on President Musharraf. There have also been reports in the Pakistani press that one Sardar Naeemullah Shahani, the Punjab sports and culture minister who was kidnapped in January, would be offered to the government in exchange for Omar Sheikh and the three others, although government officials have denied this.

Far-fetched, you say? Not for Omar, who was freed from an Indian court in 1999, where he was serving time for a failed kidnapping plot, in exchange for the safe release of passengers aboard a hijacked Indian Airlines flight. It's also important to understand that the forces within the Pakistani government that have so destabilised the Musharraf regime - the intelligence agency (ISI) and the military - are those to whom Omar had at least passing ties before his arrest.

This powerful conflict within the Pakistan government could be seen in Musharraf's handling of the government's corrupt nuclear program. Just three weeks ago, after it was revealed that Pakistan had given nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea - a story that Danny had been pursuing - Musharraf called the scientists involved "enemies of the state". But then, last Wednesday, Musharraf seemed to cave, pardoning Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear programme who had taken responsibility for the leaked information. By doing so, Musharraf avoided a battle with government hard-liners, who deified Khan for turning Pakistan into a nuclear power. It illustrates how rough the justice in this part of the world can be, and why it helps to have as many witnesses as possible."

(from article linked above)

What I wouldn't give for a few thousand dollars, the ability to speak Urdu & Arabic & balls of steel! There's a bombshell of a story desperate to be told about the ISI's role before, during & after 9-11 & quite when Mi6/CIA handling of ISI affairs ended after the Soviets left Afghanistan. Some good stuff comes out of India, but it does have to be treated with kid gloves at times. However (although I'm yet to read it) that French philosopher who went digging (Bernard Levi?) seems to have confirmed a lot of what was flying around in late 2001. Oh what a tangled web they weave ... ;)