Kashmir News Network - Press Releases (02/21/2002)

For Immediate Release
Kashmir News Network
February 21, 2002

Kashmir News Network Believes Daniel Pearl was the Latest Victim of the ISI Menace

Recent reports appear to confirm that Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl has been killed by his Pakistani captors. Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf tried to turn the blame everywhere but at his own intelligence agency, the notorious ISI, during his recent US trip. Musharraf's own Karachi police contradicted his statements and in doing so, undermined his credibility. The arrest of several ISI officials, the modus operandi, and connections with various terrorist outfits point directly at this being an ISI plot.

In Yossef Bodansky's 1999 book, 'Bin Laden - The Man Who Declared War On America' (Page 266), he points out that the 1998 African US embassy bombings suspect Mohammed Sadiq Odeh had been held by the ISI when he arrived in Pakistan, tortured, and told that he would be used as a trading card with the US in return for removing nuclear sanctions. When this ploy did not work, the ISI plotted to kill Odeh, but the CIA managed to extricate him.

It appears that Daniel Pearl was caught in a similar heinous and dangerous web woven by the ISI. Pakistan's attempts to cover up the details of the case are well documented, an example being the fact that chief suspect Omar Sheikh's capture was announced a week after it happened, and only on the eve of Musharraf's meeting with President Bush. When Musharraf returned from the US without some of the more important concessions such as release of nuclear-capable F-16 spare parts and a forced mediation on Jammu and Kashmir, it is likely that Pearl's life was no longer valuable to his captors.

The extensive and deep connections between the ISI, the Al Qaida, and the Pakistani military are unlikely to be severed despite Musharraf's January 12 speech. That Sheikh Omar Sayeed, suspected of wiring funds to September 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta at the behest of then ISI Chief Gen. Mahmud Ahmed, was roaming freely in Pakistan till recently, is an indicator of the continued terrorist risks emanating from Pakistan. Simply pumping financial aid into Pakistan will not mitigate these risks. Pakistan's military-jehad-terrorist complex operates with the backing of its nuclear arsenal. Only a sustained operation, including military, to dismantle the ISI, as well as Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, will free the world from the clutches of the menace.

KNN Executive Editors

For further information, please contact:
Lalit Koul
Executive Editor
Kashmir News Network
Email: editor@kashmirherald.com

Kashmir News Network, based in United States, manages many Kashmiri websites including: www.ikashmir.org , www.kashmiri-pandit.org , www.panunkashmir.org , www.kashmirherald.com and www.kashmirnews.org.

	Pakistan's Role in State Sponsored International Terrorism

	The Global Islamic Terrorist Framework