Moin rules out talks with abductors
KARACHI- Interior Minister Lt-Gen (retd) Moinuddin Haider has emphatically said that American journalist Daniel Pearl has not been recovered as yet and ruled out any negotiations with his kidnappers. “There is no negotiation and there will be no negotiations,” he told reporters, after presiding over a book launching ceremony at Karachi Club on Saturday evening.
The minister said that news regarding Pearl’s recovery was not correct. When Pearl would be recovered he would not be sent abroad suddenly rather it would be ascertained as to who were the culprits who had committed the act. He said the authorities had no proof that Pearl was still alive. “No, we don’t have any evidence,” he replied when asked.
Moin was of the view that the crime had been committed by some ‘very professional people’. When asked whether the main suspect had been identified, he pointed out that the prime suspect in this case was Shaikh Omar. He also remarked that “we have succeeded in pinpointing possibly the organisation which is a banned one which has done this act and I hope that we will soon reach the prime suspect Shaikh Omar.”
When a foreign journalist asked whether the act was committed to embarrass Pakistan, the minister remarked: “Obviously, this whole exercise is to embarrass Pakistan, is to harm Pakistan It is to harm the president’s trip to the US, and possibly also to make some money.”
The Inspector General (IG) Police Sindh, Syed Kamal Shah, talking to journalists at an Ikebana exhibition at a hotel here, also made it clear that the missing journalist has not been recovered so far. He remarked: “I as the inspector-general am very sure that we have not recovered him nor any one from here has been flown.”
He was of the view that if they recovered Pearl everybody would know. “If we recover him why should we deny,” he added. When asked whether Pearl was alive, Kamal replied: “We are very hopeful that he is alive.” To a question, he said that other agencies were also involved in the investigations and those include locals and there were Americans also, and both were working together. To another question, the IGP said that he never claimed that they would be able to recover Pearl in 24 hours. It could take one day, it could take more, he added.
Source: The News
Date:2/10/2002
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