Pearl’s kidnapping to cloud visit | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Pearl’s kidnapping to cloud visit

WASHINGTON- The kidnapping of journalist Daniel Pearl is likely to cloud General Pervez Musharraf’s visit to Washington if he is not recovered before his meeting with President George Bush. Local media is almost unanimous that the kidnapping will overshadow other issues, particularly if the results of the investigation did not turn out to be positive.

The New York Times said that the mixture of bravado and inscrutability with which Pakistani officials are addressing the case of the kidnapped American is being closely watched as a clue to the intense pressures the abduction has placed on a government only beginning to feel its way into new territory.

The case has come at a pivotal time for President Musharraf but some aspects of Pakistan’s response threaten to cloud that visit ‘with reminders of a country driven by rivalries between security agencies unwilling or unable to dissolve old ties with Muslim militants.

There is a general acknowledgement of Musharraf’s intense pressure on the security agencies to win Pearl’s release. But the response, including oddly blustery avowals of confidence by the police in Karachi that Pearl will soon be freed, is viewed with skepticism, says The Times.

Source: The News
Date:2/9/2002