Daniel Pearl/Richard Reid/Pakistan Intelligence

[Dreadsox]

Pearl killed 'for finding terror links'

Paul Webster, Paris
Thursday April 24, 2003
The Guardian

The American journalist Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan because he uncovered links between the British terrorist Richard Reid and the Pakistani secret service, according to an investigation by the French philosopher and author Bernard-Henri L?vy.
L?vy's book Who Killed Daniel Pearl? traces the Wall Street Journal correspondent's last investigation after he was persuaded to go to Pakistan by a London-born double agent, Omar Saeed Sheikh.

Sheikh has since been sentenced to death in Pakistan for overseeing the murder, in which the reporter's body was cut into 10 pieces.

L?vy spent several weeks in Pakistan and described it as "the most delinquent of delinquent nations". He said Muslims such as Reid who were linked to al-Qaida were being manipulated by "the most violent and most anti-American faction" inside the Pakistani intelligence service.

Sheikh, a London School of Economics graduate, reportedly invited Pearl, who was then in India, to visit him in Pakistan as part of an inquiry into the background of Reid.

Reid is now in prison in the US after trying to blow up a flight from Paris to Miami.

L?vy said "an odour of the apocalypse" floated over cities in Pakistan where there was a struggle between moderate and radical Muslims recruited by the intelligence service. He accused Pakistani extremists of transferring nuclear secrets to Iran and helping North Korea to develop the atomic bomb.

Claiming that Pakistan was the real key to all Islamic-led international terrorism, he said that the US had solved only 1% of the problem by deposing Saddam Hussein.

 

[anitram]

I hope STING reads this.

Just goes to show that Arun had an excellent point about the reality of what is happening in Pakistan.

 

[Popmartijn]

And apparently uncovered by a French journalist...

Marty

 

[Klaus]

Dreadsox: thanks for posting it, a sad story

Popmartijn:
The Guardian is a british newspaper, Paul Webster dosn't sound like a french name to me either - afik he is the Paris corespondant of the Guardian...

Klaus

 

[Dreadsox]

The person who has uncovered this alleged activity is FRENCH.

according to an investigation by the French philosopher and author Bernard-Henri L?vy.
L?vy's book Who Killed Daniel Pearl? traces the Wall Street Journal correspondent's last investigation after he was persuaded to go to Pakistan by a London-born double agent, Omar Saeed Sheikh.

 

[sharky]

Um...I'm a bit confused. Danny was stationed in Pakistan. No one asked him to leave India. He and his wife were both in Pakistan at the time. And while he may have known something, its also clear that they killed him partially because he was Jewish.

 

[Amna]

Hmmmm.. Lets see, Levy is a philosopher.?.?.?

Hmmmm... Lets see, is there any substance to what he said... For allyou know, he could be making up the whole thing...

Let me give you an incite on Pakistan... It is a developing country that has been constantly stopping its economic developments for the sake of helping the US... Because Pakistan has always highly respected the US, and though you may have anti-American protests, go to any country, within the US or out and you will witness protests...
Back to my point, Pakistan is still developing, and it doesn't have the resources to track down "terrorists" as easy as the US does...

You guys have to understand that the people who are suspected of killing Pearl were underground.... I for one know that this country has gone through so much shit, and the last thing they want to do is mingle with terrorists... They are trying to develop as a country into a liberal democracy.. President Musharaff is trying his best into getting Pakistan back on its feet... The last thing we need is America hold suspicians against Pakistan.
And believe me, Pakistan has been slowing coming back on its feet... I see it whenver I visit, which is often.

This country doesn't give enough credit for the amount of support Pakistan has given to the US... This country has a list of shit that they have to deal with, and yet they always stop to help the Americans... This is the problem, maybe they should invest more time developing themselves, rather then putting America on its top priority... America really charms Pakistan into doing things it rather wouldn't want to get involved in... However, Pakistan does get involved, and, yes, in the past they invested the few dollars that they got from the US into weapons rather then education... But, recently, Pakistan has tried to focus on its infrastructure...
This countyr holds the possible development of a Good Democratic Muslim State, it is nearly at the verge of it... The last thing it needs is a War with the West...

 

[Dreadsox]

Arun

 

[STING2]

Anitram,

I think you should read this.



U.S. Says al-Qaida Suspect a Major Catch
39 minutes ago

By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Pakistani authorities have captured a man accused of playing a leading role in the Sept. 11 attacks and the bombing of an American warship in Yemen, a catch President Bush (news - web sites) called a "major, significant find" in the war against the ailing al-Qaida network.


AP Photo



Waleed bin Attash, also known as Tawfiq Attash or just Khallad, coordinated the activities of at least two of the hijackers who crashed into the Pentagon (news - web sites) during the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. counterterrorism officials said. He is also one of two figures described as masterminds of the bombing of the U.S. Navy (news - web sites) destroyer on Oct. 12, 2000.


Bush described Khallad as "one of the top al-Qaida operatives" ? saying he ranked just below Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the captured No. 3 figure in the terror network.


Khallad is often described as one-legged but actually is missing his right foot.


"He's a killer," Bush said of Khallad. "He is one less person that people who love freedom have to worry about. ... It was a major, significant find."


Khallad was arrested Tuesday in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi during raids that netted five other al-Qaida suspects. Pakistani and U.S. officials announced his capture Wednesday.


U.S. counterterrorism officials described him as among the top 10 al-Qaida figures who remained at-large.


"This is a big catch," said Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema, the head of Pakistan's counterterrorism unit. "I think he is very important."


American and Pakistani officials said Khallad, a Yemeni who also held Saudi citizenship, was active in plotting new terrorism. He will be interrogated by officials from both countries.


"With these arrests a major terrorist attack has been averted in Pakistan," said the country's interior minister, Saleh Faisal Hayyat.


In the Cole attack, two suicide bombers rammed an explosives-laden dinghy into the Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden, ripping a gaping hole in the ship's hull and killing 17 sailors.


The other alleged Cole mastermind, al-Qaida's Persian Gulf operations chief Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, was captured in November in the United Arab Emirates.


Two other alleged lower-ranking organizers of the attack recently escaped from a Yemeni prison. They were not believed to be among the six captured this week.


Khallad had also planned an attack on another Navy destroyer in Aden in early January 2000. That attack failed when the bomb boat sank under the weight of the explosives.


U.S. counterterrorism officials further described Khallad as the intermediary between alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi. Mohammed was captured in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in March.


In January 2000, Khallad met with the two eventual Sept. 11 hijackers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.


The CIA (news - web sites) had learned about the meeting, and asked Malaysian authorities to monitor it. The Malaysians learned who was there but not what was discussed.





The meeting gained much greater significance to American counterterrorism officials a year later, when investigators tied Khallad to the Cole plot. His known associates ? including al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi ? suddenly took on new importance.

Despite their association with Khallad, the two operatives were not put on watch lists at U.S. ports-of-entry until months afterward, in late August 2001. A listing might have prevented the two from being allowed into the United States, but the 17 other hijackers were largely unknown to U.S. authorities.

Another person at the January 2000 meeting would later be associated with terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui, who traveled to Malaysia later that year. Moussaoui is accused of conspiring with the Sept. 11 plotters to commit terrorism.

Khallad was in Afghanistan (news - web sites) for much of the planning of the Sept. 11 attacks and was believed to have moved to Pakistan after the Taliban fell, officials said.

Pakistani authorities also recovered 330 pounds of explosives and a large quantity of weapons, according to a statement from Cheema's National Crisis Management Cell, which oversees Pakistan's anti-terrorist activities.

"The recovered items indicate the magnitude" of those planned attacks, the statement said.

Also captured in the raids that netted Khallad was a nephew of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Pakistani officials said. American officials had previously described Ali Abdulaziz as active in al-Qaida operations.

Numerous al-Qaida chiefs have been captured in Pakistan since the Taliban fell, as have hundreds of lesser fighters, Pakistani officials say. Many of al-Qaida's remaining operational leaders are believed to be in Iran, and Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and his chief deputy are still thought to be hiding in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

___

Associated Press writers Kathy Gannon in Islamabad and Afzal Nadeem in Karachi contributed to this story.

 

[Amna]

Good article Sting..

Dreadsox, what are u trying to say? Why are you saying Arun?

Are you Arun? Or are you bringing up his name b/c your infactuated with him? Or what?


Imagine if Pakistan had the time and privacy of developing... Pakistan would become a powerful democratic Muslim State who would greatly accept the West... Pakistan would be a more powerful "Jordan"..... Just imagine... Wouldn't this help bring peace and more order to the Muslim World?
Believe me, it would bring more stability...

 

[Dreadsox]

Dreadsox, what are u trying to say? Why are you saying Arun?

Are you Arun? Or are you bringing up his name b/c your infactuated with him? Or what?

Well, 1st of all, for some reason what I typed did not make it onto the screen and I did not notice it did not make it in the post.

Second of all, are you trying to be funny? Have I ever conversed with you EVER that would make you think it ok to make comments directed at me that boarderline are rude?

As I thought I said last night:

"Arun what is your opinion on this."

 

[Dreadsox]

FROM THE BBC:

Pearl 'killed over secrets'


Pearl's murder was "a cold, calculated crime", says Levy
France's leading philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, says that American journalist Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan last year was killed because he knew too much.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Levy said Mr Pearl had uncovered dangerous secrets about the involvement of Pakistan's intelligence service with Islamic extremists.

He also claims that British-born Islamic militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, convicted of killing Mr Pearl was in fact a double agent working for Pakistan's intelligence service, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).

Mr Levy, who recently returned from investigating the murder in Pakistan, was French President Jacques Chirac's special envoy to Afghanistan.

Mr Levy said that Mr Pearl was "kidnapped for one reason and he was killed for another".

I think Omar Sheikh was an agent of al-Qaeda, close to Bin Laden, and an agent of ISI

Bernard-Henri Levy
"He was kidnapped obviously because he was American, Jewish and a journalist - especially because he was American and Jewish in a country, in an area of the world where it is a crime to be Jewish and American."

"To be American and Jewish in Pakistan is not an identity it is a sin - it is a crime - this is why he kidnapped," Mr Levy said.

Nuclear question

Mr Levy says once in the hands of his captors, in the course of his conversations with them, Pearl's abductors realised "that he knew too much", that he was in possession of information too sensitive for him to ever be released.

Mr Levy said the information took two forms - firstly about Pakistan's nuclear capabilities:


Omar Sheikh says he is a scapegoat
"Everyone knows that Pakistan is a nuclear power but Daniel discovered that the nuclear weapons were less controlled than Mr Musharraf pretends and less under control than the secret services of occidental powers believe."

Secondly, according to Mr Levy, Pearl had uncovered information about a shadowy Muslim leader known as Gillani.

"He was on the point of discovering the identity, background, roots and area of influence of a very strange man who is called Gillani," Mr Levy said.

"He is the chief of a Muslim sect which has one foot in Pakistan and one foot in America and he happens to be one of the masters of Bin Laden - one of the gurus of Bin Laden," Mr Levy added.

Mr Levy also claimed to have uncovered information about Omar Sheikh, Pearl's killer, whom he claims is not only connected to al-Qaeda, but to ISI too.

"What I discovered is that he is not simply a young guy deciding to kill a Jew. It was a planned crime, organised and done to a cold strategy."

"This British man Omar Sheikh is linked to ISI the intelligence service of Pakistan, which means partly to the state of Pakistan and secondly to al-Qaeda," Mr Levy said.

"I think Omar Sheikh was an agent of al-Qaeda, close to Bin Laden, and an agent of ISI."

 

[STING2]

Musharraf: Bin Laden May Be in Pakistan
Thu May 1,11:35 AM ET


ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) may be hiding in the rocky stronghold of Pakistan's Islamic hardliners close to the Afghan border, President Pervez Musharraf said in remarks Thursday.


AP Photo


Reuters Photo
Slideshow: Osama bin Laden




In an interview with a London-based television channel, Musharraf insisted Pakistani forces are doing all they can to track bin Laden down. But he said if the al-Qaida chief was part of a small al-Qaida cell "he can hide anywhere."


"They may be hiding in our tribal areas, but I cannot say with certainty," Musharraf told satellite channel ARY Gold. "Our army is operating there. We have asked tribesmen to tell us if they know anything. The tribesmen have said they will do it."


U.S. and Pakistani officials suspect that bin Laden and many of his top lieutenants survived U.S. bombing in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and may have found refuge in Pakistan's ultraconservative tribal belt.


Islamabad insists it is determined to root out terrorists, and this week arrested a Yemeni suspected in both the Sept. 11 attacks as well as the deadly bombing in 2000 of the U.S. destroyer Cole.


But the federal government has only limited control in its fiercely autonomous tribal regions.


The border areas were a staging post for Islamic militants who defeated Afghanistan's communist rulers in 1982 and for the later Taliban regime, which gave refuge to al-Qaida until their ouster in late 2001. And Islamic hardliners made big gains in the region in October elections.


But Musharraf has shrugged off their opposition to make Pakistan a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terror, detaining some 450 fugitive al-Qaida and Taliban members, including several top figures.


"We have arrested most of the al-Qaida people," he said in the interview, which was recorded Thursday in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad. "They were handed over to America because their own governments were not prepared to take them back."


The United States also has urged Pakistan also to clamp down on Pakistan-based militants fighting in Kashmir (news - web sites), the Himalayan region that Pakistan has contested with Hindu India for more than 50 years, and negotiate a settlement.


Musharraf said that an announcement by Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee last month that he was ready for new talks on Kashmir was a "good omen."


Pakistan's Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali this week telephoned Vajpayee to say he was ready to travel to New Delhi or welcome the Indian premier to Islamabad.


"It's a good start. We have always favored talks," he said

 

[Amna]

Dreadsox, I was serious in what I was asking... I'm sorry if I sounded border line rude....
But, after seeing Arun's name so many times, I was really concerned...?...?

Sorry if your offended....

 

[Dreadsox]

Arun is a member of the forum. I am not offended....peace

 

[V Nura]

Amna...this is clearly the most ridiculous thing you have posted.


Pakistan has recieved both economic aid, debt relief and arms shipments from america in light of their "cooperation". So it's hardly putting its economic development on hold. They only reason they help the US is because if they didnt'...they would have been invaded right after afghanistan.



even clinton administration told the pakistani government to stop funding terrorist groups and that it would be subject to military action if it did not

they also proliferated nuclear arms to korea a rogue nation.

Mushreff came to power by overthrowing a democratically elected government.


It is a country where a girl can be raped for holding the hand of another boy...as a punishment and government intervention only comes in after significant international scrutiny over the incident long after the damage had been done


It is a country that has nuclear weapons ...yet not enough money to track down pakistan secret service.,....erm uhmm...I mean terrorists.


The state departments own report links the pakistani government to terrorism and even defines them as teh agressor against india on the LoC. Your "incite" into pakistan seems to be quite misguided.



tell me amna..why is it that the state department has to issue a travel advisory to pakistan if it is so friendly to the US on the level of the people?



In short int he last 3 years pakistan is guilty of nuclear proliferation, not agreeing to a non first use doctrine of nuclear weapons, being a state sponsor of terrorim genocide, occupation of territory that is not theirs according to international law, support of ethnic cleansing, supporting the taliban in the hope of having a "strongly islamic" neighbor. In all it's quite a post modern history. Oh wait....I forgot organized election fraud!


The country was founded under the threat of civil war, yet it seems to continually try to be at civilwar with india.
Often times I regret the fact that india gave pakistan back after taking it over in the 70's.



I've openly said it before and I'll say it again...if bush wants to make a big indent on terrorism....regime change in pakistan would be far more constructive than regime change in iraq. Pakistan has terror camps, it has WMD's it has state links to terror and yet nothing is done about it. In my book Pakistan gets one legitimate chance at reform...if it fails ...mushareff and saddam can exchange hiding techniques.


Amna...do yourself a favor read the number of articles I've posted here about pakistan.



I will bet 10 percent of my earnign after med school for life that Danny pearl was right, and he was executed for it, Almost every independant source verifies pakistani ties with al qaeda and other terror organiations.




In short the nation is far from innocent. If it is so friendly to the US how come the state department needs to issue a travel advisory????




I don't know why I even take time out of my day during exam week to debate things that are overwhelmingly beyond constestation.

 

[V Nura]

Hmmmm.. Lets see, Levy is a philosopher.?.?.?

Hmmmm... Lets see, is there any substance to what he said... For allyou know, he could be making up the whole thing...

Let me give you an incite on Pakistan... It is a developing country

for you own education amna


in?cite ( P ) Pronunciation Key (n-st)
tr.v. in?cit?ed, in?cit?ing, in?cites
To provoke and urge on: troublemakers who incite riots; inciting workers to strike. See Synonyms at provoke.


I believe the word you wished to use is


in?sight ( P ) Pronunciation Key (nst)
n.
The capacity to discern the true nature of a situation; penetration.
The act or outcome of grasping the inward or hidden nature of things or of perceiving in an intuitive manner.





To use them in a sentance....."Pakistan incites terrorism, giving us Insight as to what a rogue nation is"

 

[Amna]

hahaha, this is sooo hillarious, I can't believe I overlooked this message from Arun... Anyways, Arun, I don't have enough time to watch my grammer on this forum... Afterall, I don't know about you, but I have a job I'm at all day... And the last thing i need to be concerned about is how percisely correct i am on my grammer...
I just got a couple of questions for you though?

I agree that Pakistan is at fault for not prioritizing where its money goes...
But where is the proof that Mushareff has funded terrorists, thats a load of crap, Musharaff is doing his best in improving Pakistan, which he has been doing succesfully... However, I have to say, Pakistan's holds terrorists, just like the US does, just like any country does, but it doesn't mean that Pakistan supports terrorism... Where are the facts that the gov't funds terrorism...

Pakistan is trying to track terrorism down, while at the same time it is trying to develop into a strong democracy...

Musharaff toppled Democracy to become elected... Listen, Musharaff toppled a destructive government, to bring a more democratic country... Also, Arun, how can a country have a "good" democracy, If the poverty level is high, and the literacy rate is not high....???

Musharaff, is bringing order, take it from someone who has seen the improvements.. ... YOu, my friend, haven't seen the improvements, or have you?

And by the way, it is a fact that Indian gov't has funded Tamal Tigers...?... Do you have a problem with this...

What about all the terror based deaths among Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus in India....

Believe me, India is going through some issues of itself...

Here are a couple of Articles:

by JULIAN WESTThe Washington Times
NEW DELHI, India -- Violence against India's Christian minority has
surged this year, with reports of at least one attack each week in what
church leaders are calling a "reign of terror" spreading throughout thecountry.
In the most recent incident, about 70 men wearing saffron headbands --
an emblem of the Hindu nationalists -- attacked a church near Mysore, in
South India, where children were attending a catechism class. The attack
last week seriously wounded about 20 people.In other incidents this month:
- Two church workers and a teen-age boy were shot at while praying, and
the boy was injured.
- Two Christian missionaries were beaten with iron rods while bicyclinghome.
- A Christian cemetery in Port Blair on the Andaman Islands wasvandalized.
Four of the attacks were in Uttar Pradesh, the North Indian state where
counting in local government elections ends today and where the Hindu
nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fared poorly.
Much of the violence against Christians has taken place in states ruled
by the BJP, but church leaders say that last year the number of
incidents in states like Karnataka, which has a Congress party
government, has risen alarmingly.
In the latest and most violent incident in the state, an angry mob
wearing saffron headbands, carrying placards and shouting anti-Christian
slogans descended on the Holy Family church in Hinkal, a suburb of
Mysore, just after Mass last Sunday.
"The children were crying," said Father William, who was protected by
his parishioners. "They could see their parents being beaten up, from
the windows."About 20 people were later taken to the hospital.
Describing the incident as unprecedented in a city whose roughly 30,000
Christians have previously had good relations with their Hindu
neighbours, Father Nerona, a member of the Diocesan Council, said that
he thought the attack had been provoked by a misunderstanding over a
round of Christmas carols.
"They said the carols were converting people, but actually the carol
singers only went to Catholic homes," he said. "We were terribly
shocked. This has always been such a peaceful city."
The recent attacks follow what church leaders call "a false lull,"
occuring after the international outrage last year over the burning
alive of Graham Staines, an Australian missionary, and his two small
sons last year.
"Physically, many of the incidents are now less obvious," said John
Dayal, secretary general of the All India Christian Council. "But there
is a 24-hour reign of terror, which occasionally bursts into violence."
Last year the Indian government reported 240 incidents -- including
about 22 murders -- in the year leading up to 2000, and almost every
week newspapers carry an account of a ransacked church, an assaulted or
murdered priest or a vandalized cemetery.
Many of the assailants are members of the Bajrang Dal, a militant Hindu
nationalist organization linked to the BJP, which has carried out many
of the most violent attacks on Christians in India.
Church leaders maintain, however, that all the attacks -- whether they
are carried out by the Bajrang Dal or its fellow Hindu nationalist
organizations -- have the tacit approval of the BJP government.
"The Bajrang Dal are ruffians, but someone must have told them what to
do the previous night," said Mr. Dayal.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arun, What should we do about these organizations??????

VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad)
World Hindu Council
The council was established on August 29, 1964 in Bombay, Maharastra [ Biju ] with a political objective of establishing the supremacy of Hinduism all over the world. It obtains funds and recruits from Aryan Hindus all across the globe, especially from the US, UK and Canada and has grown to become the main fund-raising agency of Brahmanist Fundamentalism. The council was instrumental in the demolition of the holiest Islamic shrine in Oudh, the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya and has organised several massacres of Muslims and Christians. It is in the forefront in the call for a Hindu Rashtra, a Hindu State ethnically cleansed of its non-Aryan populations

Bajrang Dal
Party of Hanuman
The militant wing of the VHP, it was formed "to counter `Sikh militancy' " during the Sikh Genocide of 1983-84 [ Bajrang ]. Created with the objective of the eradication of Sikhs which it has termed "Muslims in disguise", its cadres fought alongside Congress-backed Hindutva militias during the massacre of 200,000 Sikhs under Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Recruits carry a " knife-like trident to be slung across the shoulder - an answer to the Sikh kirpan " [ Bajrang ]. It has subsequently expanded its targets to include Muslims and Christians as well.

Bharatiya Jan Sangh
Indic Race Party
Founded in October 1951 with the Bengal Brahmin Shyama Prasad Mookerjee as its president, who had resigned from the allied `soft' Brahminist Congress in Apil 1950 [ Chandra ] was president until he died in 1953. Its cadres were carefully chosen indoctrinated activists. The second president, the Brahmin Mauli Chandra Sharma resigned in 1954 to protest against RSS domination of the party. It strove for an `Akhand Bharat' [ Chandra ] ethnically cleansed of its Muslim, Christian and Black Sudroid Populations.


These are just a few organizations that I would worry about in India....

Arun, i"m not trying to compete against Pakistan and India.... I'm not like the majority of people who waste their time saying that India or Pakistan is better then one another...

YOu should be thankful that Pakistan had established itself as a state, or else Hindu and Sikhs would have difficulty adapting to the Islamic culture brought by Muslims...

Also, lets try and figure out a strategy in understanding how we can decrease terrorism in any country... Because, lets admit it, terrorism is a problem faced in just about all countrys... Doesn't mean we have to go to war with all of them.