Daniel Pearl

Summary
Daniel Pearl, a 38-year-old reporter and chief of the Wall Street Journal's South Asia bureau for two years, was kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan, on January 23rd, 2002. He had been researching a story linking the alleged shoe-bomber Richard Reid with al-Qaeda and various Islamic radical groups in Pakistan. After his kidnapping, his captors sent e-mail messages falsely accusing Pearl of being a spy for Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, and listing numerous other demands. For weeks, Daniel Pearl’s fate was unknown to the world and his pregnant wife. On February 21st, it was learned that Mr. Pearl had been murdered by his captors. The kidnappers also sent a gruesome video of the murder.

Both President Bush of the United States and General Musharraf of Pakistan condemned the kidnapping and stated that no concessions would be made to terrorists. And several arrests were made including that of Omar Sayeed Sheikh. Sheikh spent five years in prison on charges of kidnapping three British citizens and one US citizen in 1994. In 1999, hijackers took over Indian Airlines flight 814 en route from Nepal to India and forced the plane to land in Khandahar, Afghanistan. In exchange for the 155 persons aboard, they demanded the release from an Indian prison of Sheik and Masood Azhar, founder of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, which the United States designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2001. The Government of India released them in order to save the civilians on board the aircraft. Soon after, the terrorists fled and took refuge in Pakistan.

The Connection
On the outside, Musharraf seemed to want to save Pearl and bring his kidnappers to justice. However, on the inside Musharraf was only benefiting from Pearl’s murder.

Pakistan desperately sought F-16's

The made-up group which claimed to have kidnapped and killed Pearl - "The National Youth Movement for the Sovereignty of Pakistan" listed several demands when they kidnapped Daniel Pearl. One of the demands was unique: the resumption of F-16 sales to Pakistan. The Pakistani government was desperately bargaining with the United States in order to resume the sales of F-16 fighter jets as well. During 1988-1989, Pakistan ordered 28 F-16 Jet fighters from United States. But due to the reason that Pakistan got involved in a controversy with the United States over its suspected nuclear weapons capability and refused sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the United States government announced on October 6, 1990 that it had embargoed further arms deliveries to Pakistan. Since Pakistan had already paid $685 million on the contract for the 28 F-16s, it insisted on either having the planes it ordered delivered or getting its money back. The dispute lasted for 8 years, and finally came to an end with the reach of the agreement in 1998. Even after 1998, Pakistan was tried to acquire F-16 aircrafts but the United States refused to lift the embargo. Pakistan, desperate for the aircraft, decided to list the F-16’s as one of the demands in the Daniel Pearl killing.
In addition, the timing of the arrests made in Pearl’s case played out perfectly for Musharraf. It was widely rumored in intelligence communities that the kidnappers had been arrested weeks before but the world came to know just prior to Musharraf’s visit to the United States. After the visit the United States Congress approved several billion dollars of military assistance and debt relief to Pakistan.

In addition, the FBI sought the extradition of kidnapper Omar Sayeed Sheikh. However, Pakistan did not allow this to happen. Sheikh is widely believed in Pakistan to be an experienced ISI "asset" with a history of operations in Kashmir. If he were extradited to Washington and decided to talk, the entire story along with the connection between the Pakistani government and terrorists would unravel. Quite conveniently, Sheikh was sentenced to death.

The Lesson Learned
Daniel Pearl’s murder only benefited Musharraf and Pakistan as a whole. Pakistan was able to preserve its links with terrorists, almost acquire F-16’s and receive billions of American dollars as aid money. From this killing, Pakistan has shown their aptitude in killing Americans and harboring terrorists on one hand while being trusted and rewarded by the very same Americans on the other.