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Death penalty sought for three others in Pearl case

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD July 16. The Pakistan Government today appealed to the Sindh High Court seeking death penalty to the three other accused in the Daniel Pearl kidnap and murder case. A division bench would hear the appeal.

An anti-terrorism court in Hyderabad in the Sindh Province had on Monday awarded death sentence to the principle accused in the case, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and life imprisonment to his accomplices — Salman Saqib, Fahad Naseem and Shaikh Adil. Indications are that all the four would appeal against the verdict in the next few days.

A section of the Pakistani press has reported that while hailing the verdict, the United States and the United Kingdom have reiterated their request for extradition of Omar Sheikh. The reports said both the countries were opposed to Omar Sheikh's execution and would like his extradition.

The U.S. had made a formal request to the Musharraf Government in March this year for extradition of Omar Sheikh to face trail in the case relating to the abduction of an American tourist in Kashmir in 1994. Omar Sheikh was one of the three militants released by the Indian Government in exchange for freedom of the passengers on board the hijacked Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu in December 1999. Among the released militants was the chief of the now banned Jaish-e-Mohammad, Masood Azar.

In response to the earlier request for extradition of Omar Sheikh, the Pakistan Government had said that it wanted him in connection with investigations in the Pearl murder case and it would like to try him under the local laws. It is not known if the Bush Administration has repeated its request for extradition of Omar after the Hyderabad court verdict.

Legal luminaries in Pakistan are of the view that the Pearl murder case cannot be treated as closed as three other accused in the case are still at large. Their arrest could prompt the appeal court to send the case back to the trial court for fresh trial.

In case of new arrests and fresh evidence, the appeal court could direct the trial court to record the fresh evidence and re-try the case.

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