Sindh home department decides to move SC over Daniel Pearl’s case: FM

ISLAMABAD, Apr 04 (APP):Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Saturday said that Sindh home department under Public Safety Act took the decision to place all the accused men in US journalist Daniel Pearl’s abduction and murder case in custody for a period of at least 90 days.

In a press statement released to media, the foreign minister said that the provincial home department had also decided to file an appeal in the Supreme Court against a decision of the Sindh High Court which had overturned a decision of the trial court.

He observed that the appellate forum was available in the case and the apex court would further adjudicate upon the appeal.

About US concerns over the decision of the case, Qureshi said that their expressions were natural as Daniel had been a prominent journalist who was kidnapped for ransom and later on murdered. Due to that sorry episode, Pakistan had been criticized after the news broke out across the world.

The minister said Pakistan had offered huge sacrifices in the war on terror and the whole nation with unity fought a long war, defeating this specter.

In Pearl’s case, accused were arrested, tried, and convicted while the main accused Shaikh Omar was awarded death penalty by the trial court, he added.

The convicts later moved to the Sindh High Court, which accepted their appeals and set aside an earlier verdict of the Anti-Terrorism Court Hyderabad.