Pakistan police charge militant in Daniel Pearl case

KARACHI (Reuters) – Pakistani police have charged a
militant over the 2002 kidnapping and murder of U.S. reporter
Daniel Pearl, officials said on Wednesday.

Mohammad Hashim Qadir was arrested last month in the
central province of Punjab and he was later handed over to
Karachi police for investigations.

Intelligence officials have said Qadir, also known as Arif,
had set up a meeting between the Wall Street Journal reporter
and his kidnappers.

Investigating police officer Gul Hameed Samoo said Qadir
had been formally arrested in Pearl case on Monday.

“We will produce him before a judge today (Wednesday) and
will seek to obtain a judicial remand for further
investigations about his role in the Pearl case,” Samoo told
Reuters.

Pearl, 38, was kidnapped in Karachi January 2002 while
researching a story on Islamist militants. He was later killed.

Four people have been convicted in connection with his
murder, including British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was
sentenced to death in 2002 for masterminding the murder. He is
in jail awaiting the outcome of an appeal.

Investigators say Qadir had admitted taking instructions
from Omar Sheikh and another militant, Amjad Hussain Farooqi,
who is also believed to have played a prominent role in the
plot to murder the journalist.

Farooqi, also implicated in assassination plots against
President Pervez Musharraf, was killed by security forces in
September.

Samoo said the court would also decide where Qadir’s trial
would be held.

In a book about her husband, Pearl’s widow, Mariane,
described Qadir as a spokesman for Harkat-ul-Mujahideen
(Movement for Holy Warriors), a militant group fighting Indian
rule in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.