Supreme Court to decide on letter from Pearl case accused

Ahmad Omar Sheikh claims he was made scapegoat to avert US pressure

ISLAMABAD:

Counsel for parents of slain American journalist Daniel Pearl has produced a letter in the Supreme Court in which accused Ahmad Omar Sheikh revealed that the real culprit of Pearl’s kidnapping was a militant, Attaur Rehman, from Karachi.

According to lawyer Faisal Siddiqui, Sheikh submitted this hand-written letter to the Sindh High Court on July 19, 2019. Sheikh claimed that he was “a scapegoat” arrested on the US “pressure,” and that the real culprit was a Karachi militant, Attaur Rehman.

The letter was produced during a hearing of the appeals against the acquittal of the four accused in the Pearl murder case. A three-judge special bench led by Justice Mushir Alam, heard the appeals of the Sindh government and Pearl’s parents, Ruth and Judie Pearl, against the SHC ruling.

Producing the letter in the court, Siddiqui contended that the bench must consider it. However, the judges will decide on the next date of hearing on January 4 whether they will consider Sheikh’s letter or not.

Sheikh further said in his letter that he had been in prison under the death sentence since 2002, charged and convicted for the abduction and murder of Pearl. However, it was on public record that neither did he abduct Pearl nor did he murder him, he said, adding that it had been acknowledged by the American government and by former president Pervez Musharraf in his book.

Sheikh believed that his role in this case was a relatively minor one, which did not warrant the death sentence, adding that he had already served in prison — most of which has been in illegal solitary confinement.

The letter said that the pressure on the government of Pakistan at the time [in 2002] by the American government was so intense that he was used as a scapegoat to lessen that pressure. “Therefore, evidence was fabricated against me to convict me of the abduction and murder of Daniel Pearl,” he said.

“Later, when the person who actually abducted Daniel was arrested [Ataur Rahman alias Naeem Bukhari], he was not charged with the case because to do so would have exposed the lies and perjured evidence that the Musharraf government used to convict me,” he added.

The letter claimed that despite Rs1 million reward money on Ataur Rahman—because of his role in this case — he was not produced in court but was kept in secret illegal custody of the Rangers for 5 years, then in Sukkur jail for 2 years and charged only with a fabricated case of possession of drugs.

After his release he is alleged to have organised some of the most devastating attacks Karachi has ever seen, including blowing up of the Rangers Headquarters in Nazimabad, where he was previously secretly held, Sheikh claimed.

Sheikh’s letter also said that if Ata was executed then the evidence, which would prove the truth about the Pearl’s case, would be lost for ever. Therefore, Sheikh requested the court to pass a stay order that would ensure that Ataur Rahman alias Naeem Bukhari was not executed until testified in the Pearl case.

“The court is also requested to arrange for the hearing of this appeal without further delay on a day to day basis and to summon both me and Ataur Rahman alias Naeem Bukhari to the court for hearing so that I may be exonerated of the fabricated charges against me and given an opportunity to clarify my actual role in this matter — so that my sentence may be reduced, accordingly to one which is consistent with the requirements of justice,” said the letter.