Note the police involvement here - and do you believe Danny Pearl would
have gotten into a car in Pakistan with 4 men - a white automobile and
police connections here? One thing I noted was the gun held to Danny
Pearl's head and the police stance - and what appeared to be police
chains about his wrists. The hand that held the gun, was feminine
hands. not the hands of a working individual and further the oh so white
apparel with tiny buttons at wrist? Oh so clean and delicate material
not that of a peasant
Saba
10 March 2002 Sunday 25 Zilhaj 1422
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Taxi driver records statement in court: Daniel Pearl case
By Tahir Siddiqui
KARACHI, March 9: The star witness for the prosecution in the Daniel
Pearl kidnapping case, who had earlier identified the prime suspect,
Ahmed Umer Saeed Shaikh, as one of the kidnappers, recorded on Saturday
his statement before a judicial magistrate.
Nasir Abbas, the 32-year-old taxi-driver, stated before the JM, South,
Ms Irum Jahangir, on oath that on Jan 23 he was having his car washed
near the Do Talwar in Clifton. He said, in the meantime, a taxi-driver,
Faisal Afridi, came there and told him that some people needed two cabs
for Sheraton Hotel.
The cab-driver said he followed Afridi to pick up the passengers from
Zamzama in Clifton where a journalist, his wife and another woman were
standing. "The journalist got into the front seat of my taxi and asked
me to take him to Laxon Building. He talked to me in English which I
could not understand."
He said the woman, accompanying the couple, told him in Urdu to take the
passenger to Laxon Building, situated behind the PIA booking office.
The driver said he took the journalist to his destination. He said the
journalist got down from the cab, asking him to wait. "After a short
while, he returned and asked me to take him to the Citizens-Police
Liaison Committee (CPLC) office," he said.
Nasir Abbas said he asked a man about the CPLC office as he did not know
its address. "The man told me that it was at the offices of the SSP
South."
He said he took the journalist to the SSP South office. "He got down
from the taxi and went into the office, but returned immediately with a
man, who told me that he wanted to go to the CPLC office at the
Governor's House."
The cab-driver said he took the US journalist to the Governor's House.
"He asked me to wait and went inside."
He said Daniel Pearl returned after 45 minutes and asked him to go to
Village Restaurant. "Since he spoke in English, I could not understand
him, and then he told me to take him near Metropole Hotel."
The driver said the US journalist asked him to stop when he reached
Metropole Hotel. "He was talking on his mobile phone at that time. Then
he got down from th taxi and asked me about the fare. I could not
understand. I asked him to give me as much as he was wanted to. He took
out a Rs500-note. I was retuning him Rs200 when he nodded me to keep the
change. In the meanwhile, a white car, in which four people were
travelling, stopped ahead of my cab. The journalist walked to that car
and the man sitting with the driver in the front seat of the white car
got down. The journalist shook hand with that man, who opened the rear
door of his car and made him sit in the car," the driver said.
Pointing to Ahmed Umer Saeed Shaikh, the driver said: "The man who made
the journalist sit in the car is present in the courtroom and I
recognise him."
Additional advocate-general Salman Habibullah appeared on behalf of the
state for the statement of the prosecution witness under section 164 of
CrPC.
Saiful Malook, a Lahore-based attorney hired as defence counsel by the
Shaikh's family, appeared in the court. He, however, did not
cross-examine the witness, though the court gave him an opportunity to
do so.
The judicial magistrate in her observations on the statement of the
prosecution witness said "the defence counsel was given an opportunity
to meet the accused, and he met him and discussed with him for half an
hour in my chamber." However, later talking to newsmen on the premises
of the City Courts, the defence counsel said he had met his client for
only five minutes in the presence of the JM. He said he refused to
cross-examine the prosecution witness since he was not given "a proper
opportunity to seek instructions from his client for the purpose."
He quoted his client as telling him and the magistrate that the
investigation officer told him in the morning that there was no evidence
against him, and that police were fabricating evidence against him due
to certain compulsion. Shaikh Umer also requested the court to call the
investigation officer and ask him on oath if he (the suspect) was
telling lies.
Police had sealed off all entrances leading to the court of the judicial
magistrate and they did not allow anybody to attend the court
proceedings. Even Khawaja Naveed Ahmed, the counsel for other suspects,
was not allowed to attend the proceedings.
Talking to Dawn, the defence counsel said the statement of an accused
under section 164 of CrPC was to be recorded in the presence of all the
accused in the case. "In this case a piecemeal process has been adopted,
which is not only unprecedented, but also of no legal effect under the
law of the land," he said.
Mr Khawaja said the opportunity to cross-examine a prosecution witness
was to be provided to all the other accused or their counsel in the case
"as the interest of all the accused is common."
He said any statement made or any question asked of the witness could
adversely affect the case of other accused. "In the present case neither
the accused were produced in court, nor their counsel given an
opportunity to cross-examine the prosecution witness."
Police brought the prime suspect, clad in a light sky-blue
shalwar-qamees with his face muffled, to the court amid strict security
under the supervision of the senior superintendent of police,
investigation, Manzoor Ahmed Mughul, around 1:50pm.
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© The DAWN Group of Newspapers, 2002
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