Daniel Pearl murder: Sequence of incidents can help reach conclusion, SC told

ISLAMABAD: The Sindh government told the Supreme Court that sequence of incidents could help reach a logical conclusion in the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Mushir Alam and comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Yahya Afridi heard a criminal petition filed by the government of Sindh as well as parents of Daniel Pearl for leave to appeal under Article 185(3) of the Constitution against the impugned judgment passed by the Sindh High Court on April 2.

Continuing his arguments for the third day, Farooq H Naek, counsel for the Sindh government, read statements of prosecution witnesses and contended that the sequence of incidents took place in the abduction of Daniel Pearl could help reach a logical conclusion of the instant matter. He submitted that keeping in view of the sequence of incidents, the British-born Ahmed Omar Sheikh is the prime accused in the case. Elaborating his stance, Naek termed the murder of the US journalist a blind murder as he contended that it is not a case wherein a dead body or any weapon used in committing the crime is likely to be recovered.

Naek went through the statements of other prosecution witnesses and read out the statements of Nasir Abbas, a taxi driver, Hayat Ali as well as Citizens Police Liaison Committee Chief Jameel Yousaf.

The last evidence in the case was the testimony of Nasir Abbas, the taxi driver who had saw the deceased (Daniel Pearl) with Ahmed Omar Sheikh, the prime accused in the murder, Naek submitted. He requested the court to change the timings from noon to morning. Justice Mushir Alam however, told the counsel that the chief justice of Pakistan will be requested in this regard and adjourned the hearing until next Tuesday while Farooq H Naek will continue his arguments. He will be followed by the counsel for the accused as well as the parents of Daniel Pearl.