On March 12, 2002 a court in Karachi extended the police remand of Omar Shaikh, the British terrorist Of Pakistani origin, who is believed to have masterminded the kidnapping of Daniel Pearl, the US journalist. Pearl was subsequently reported to have been brutally murdered and beheaded, most probably by the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI) headed by Qari Saifullah Akhtar, which has always been close to the Pakistani military-intelligence establishment and Gen.Pervez Musharraf.

As already repeatedly pointed out by this writer, the Pakistani authorities have been trying hard to steer the investigation away from the HUJI and to project it as the work of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM), one of the five terrorist organisations banned by Musharraf on January 15, 2002. They are afraid that if the HUJI's involvement became public knowledge there could be US demands for banning it.

An interesting thing happened in the court on March 12. When the Karachi Police moved the application for the extension of his Police remand on the ground that his interrogation was incomplete, Omar Shaikh reportedly remarked:" What do they mean by saying the interrogation is incomplete? They stopped interrogating me more than a fortnight ago. I am prepared to talk to them, but they are afraid of my talking."

rest of the article is at http://www.saag.org/papers5/paper424.html

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