LAHORE: A Pakistani-British man who was on death row for 18 years before his acquittal in the 2002 beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl was transferred Monday to a government safe house for security reasons, police said.
Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh was handed over to the Punjab Counter-Terrorism department amid tight security, a senior police officer Suhail Sukhera told The Associated Press.
Sheikh was moved to his home city of Lahore from the southern port city of Karachi. Sukhera provided no further details and only said Sheikh was being kept at a well-guarded place.
Sheikh was acquitted by the Sindh High Court in April 2020 and since then Pearl’s family and Pakistan’s government have been fighting a legal battle to overturn the acquittal. Washington has also expressed its concern over the acquittal of Sheikh.
Sheikh has been in custody despite his acquittal under a special law allowing the government to detain people deemed a security risk.
The transfer comes more than a month after Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered Sheikh moved to a safe house from a special jail cell for inmates sentenced to death.
Authorities say Sheikh will not be allowed to leave the safe house.
Pearl disappeared on January 23, 2002, in Karachi where he was investigating links between Pakistani militant groups and Richard C. Reid, dubbed the “shoe bomber.” Reid had attempted to blow up a flight from Paris to Miami with explosives hidden in his shoes. Sheikh was convicted of helping lure Pearl to a meeting in Karachi, during which he was kidnapped.
Pearl’s body was discovered in a shallow grave soon after a video of his beheading was delivered to the US Consulate in Karachi. The Pentagon in 2007 released a transcript in which Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, said he had killed Pearl.
Pakistan transfers man acquitted in US reporter Daniel Pearl’s killing
https://arab.news/rc3m6
Pakistan transfers man acquitted in US reporter Daniel Pearl’s killing
- Sheikh was on death row for 18 years before his acquittal in the 2002 beheading of Pearl
- Pearl’s family and Pakistan’s government have been fighting a legal battle to overturn the acquittal
IMF team expected in Islamabad today for loan reviews amid reform scrutiny
- Talks to cover third review of $7 billion bailout and second climate resilience assessment
- Analysts flag revenue shortfall and energy reforms as potential sticking points in negotiations
KARACHI: An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff mission is expected to arrive in Islamabad today, Wednesday, to begin discussions on key program reviews that will determine Pakistan’s continued access to funding under its $7 billion bailout and a parallel climate resilience facility.
The visit, confirmed last week by IMF communications director Julie Kozack, will cover the third review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the second review under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), which supports climate-vulnerable countries.
“We do have a staff team that is expected to visit Pakistan starting February 25th for discussions on the third review under the EFF and the second review under the RSF,” Kozack said at a regular press briefing last week.
The talks come at a sensitive moment for Islamabad, which has spent the past year implementing tax increases, subsidy rationalization and tight monetary policy to stabilize an economy that teetered on the brink of default in 2023.
IMF officials have credited those measures with producing measurable gains. Kozack said Pakistan’s policy efforts under the EFF had helped stabilize the economy and rebuild confidence, pointing to a primary fiscal surplus of 1.3 percent of GDP in the last fiscal year, contained inflation and the country’s first current account surplus in 14 years.
The review is expected to probe fiscal discipline and energy sector reforms, two areas that have historically complicated negotiations between Islamabad and the Fund.
Analysts told Arab News last week that while approval of the next tranche is likely, discussions might not be straightforward.
“This is expected to be a smooth sailing. However, questions might arise,” Shankar Talreja, head of research at Karachi-based Topline Securities Limited, said earlier.
He pointed to a revenue shortfall of Rs336 billion ($1.2 billion) against IMF targets and raised the possibility that the Fund may seek clarification over the government’s recent reduction in electricity tariffs for export-oriented industries, a move designed to support manufacturing but with fiscal implications.
A positive outcome of the review is vital for continued disbursements under the EFF and RSF programs. It will also be important to sustain investor confidence as the country seeks to consolidate its fragile economic recovery.
A successful staff-level review leads to a provisional agreement between the two sides, which then requires approval by the Fund’s Executive Board before the disbursement of the next tranche.
