The case of the missing American journalist Danny Pearl is intriguing. He is the Bombay bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal. Mr Pearl disappeared from Karachi on January 23. At first it was rumoured that he was trying to locate Dawood Ibrahim, the former Bombay underworld Mafioso who is on the run from Indian authorities and is reportedly in Karachi. It was feared that Mr Pearl might have been “wasted” for trying to step in where even fools would fear to tread. This view gained currency when another journalist, Ghulam Hasnain, who works for a foreign magazine, also went missing for two days around the same time in Karachi. Mr Hasnain had written an article for a local magazine some time earlier exposing Mr Ibrahim’s underworld nexus in the city. It was feared that he might have incurred the wrath of the powers-that-be who wanted to stitch up his mouth because the Indians were clamouring for Mr Dawood’s return. So when Mr Hasnain reappeared two days later, his stony silence confirmed this line of thinking.
But when Mr Pearl remained missing, the supposed link with Mr Ibrahim snapped. Instead, it was now revealed that he had been on the trial of the American shoe-bomber Richard Reid which had led him in the direction of a certain Mr Mobarak Ali Shah Gillani whose terrorist Tanzeem al-Fuqra organization based in Pakistan had been outlawed by the US some time ago. The subsequent arrest of Mr Gillani by the Pakistan authorities seemed to clinch the argument.
However, a new angle now crept in. Mr Mobarak was said to have made some calls to important people in India. The “Indian hand” seemed to lurk behind another fact: Mr and Mrs Pearl’s Karachi host turned out to be an “Indian” lady who had allegedly overstayed her visit to Pakistan without getting a visa extension from the ministry of interior. This prompted General Rashid Qureshi, the top government spokesman, to hint darkly at an Indian conspiracy behind Mr Pearl’s kidnapping. The same fears were alleged by Pakistan’s foreign minister Abdul Sattar who suspected that India’s RAW had planned the whole thing in order to defame Pakistan.
While all this was going on, the Wall Street Journal received an e-mail ultimatum demanding the return of the Pakistani terrorists detained in Cuba and the delivery of F-16 aircraft to Pakistan in exchange for Mr Pearl’s release. The name of the group making the demand (National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty) was most curious since it was unlike that of any Jehadi or non-state actor. Also, by digging up the issue of the aircraft, the group seemed to go out of its way to suggest a link of sorts with Pakistani officialdom. A second e-mail extended the ultimatum and changed the conditions: the group now wanted the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Mulla Zaeef, released by the Americans in exchange for Mr Pearl. But when Mr Zaeef’s family disavowed any relationship with the group or its latest demands, the matter was brushed aside. The story then hovered on the brink of a tragedy when someone called up the police and said that Mr Pearl had been killed and his body dumped in some Karachi graveyard. An unidentified body of a “white man” was soon discovered, prompting the world media to announce the death of Mr Pearl.
Fortunately, that was not true. In fact, Mr Moinuddin Haider, the interior minister, has now raised hopes by claiming that Mr Pearl is alive and should shortly be a free man. No one can make such a claim unless he is already negotiating with the kidnappers. This means that the government and FBI teams tracking this case know more than they have revealed. The recent arrest of Sheikh Umar Saeed in Karachi could be a pointer in the right direction. Mr Saeed is the former London School of Economics graduate who became a Kashmiri mujahid, tried to kidnap foreign journalists in India some years ago, was caught and imprisoned and then freed from an Indian jail via the 1999 hijacking of an Indian plane, after which he conveniently “disappeared”. He is also wanted for his links with Mohammad Atta who masterminded the suicide attack on the World Trade Centre. Is it possible that Mr Pearl’s ordeal has to do with his discovery that certain terrorist groups banned or wanted by the government are still alive and kicking, thanks to the protection of rogue elements in the intelligence organs of the state? That would also explain why the government has been able to track down the culprits and is hoping to conclude it on a favourable note before General Pervez Musharraf embarks on his state visit to Washington.
We hope and pray that Daniel Pearl is alive and will be a free man shortly. But there are no guarantees. This episode is a timely reminder that the terrorists and religious extremists spawned by the state over a thirty year period will not be crushed by thundering speeches and well-meaning arrests alone. The state will have to cleanse itself before it can clean up anybody else.