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Tuesday February 5, 2:03 PM

Police identify key link in abduction of US journalist



Pakistani police identified a missing Muslim militant, Mohammad Hashim
Qadeer, as a crucial link in the kidnapping of US journalist Daniel Pearl as
their search for the reporter intensified on Monday.

"He is the main link and his arrest can lead to a major breakthrough," a
senior officer involved in the investigation told AFP, requesting anonymity.

Authorities believe Pearl, 38, is still alive somewhere in the southern port
city of Karachi where he disappeared 12 days ago, although the investigation
has spread nationwide.

"The search is still on. I am very hopeful that the case will be resolved
soon," Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider told reporters.

The Wall Street Journal reporter was using Qadeer, better known as Arif, as a
contact point to meet other Islamic militants in Pakistan before he
disappeared, the senior investigating officer said.

Pearl was last seen heading off to meet Arif on the understanding that he
would bring him to Mubarak Ali Shah Gilani, leader of the little known
militant Muslim group Tanzeem-ul-Fuqra, the officer said.

"Investigations have shown Arif was acting as a go-between for Pearl and
Gilani," the officer told AFP.

Police have dismissed claims by Arif's family that he died recently in
Afghanistan.

When they visited Arif's home in southern Bahawalpur district last week they
found the family conducting prayers for the dead but there was no sign of a
body.

"We have no confirmation that he has been killed," the assistant police
superintendent in Bahawalpur, Khurran Shakoor, told AFP Monday.

Arif is known to have had a long association with Harkatul Mujahedin, a
militant group whose accounts have been frozen and offices sealed in Pakistan
after being branded a terrorist organisation by the US last October.

"Arif is the main link which can lead us to unearth the mystery and lead to
the group which is claiming responsibility," the investigating officer said.

He added that it appeared Gilani, who has denied any connection with the
kidnapping, was "used as a bait to trap the American journalist. Unwittingly
he (Pearl) played into the hands of the kidnappers."

He said police continued to believe Pearl was still alive as the kidnappers'
demands had not been met, and nothing has been heard from them since they
extended the death-threat deadline last Thursday.

"It seems that he is being held somewhere in Karachi," the officer said.

The investigation has been complicated by several misleading e-mails and the
discovery of an executed body in Karachi Sunday night, but all have been
discounted as linked to Pearl.

A previously unheard-of group, calling itself the National Movement for the
Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty, sent two e-mails last week with photos
of Pearl in captivity, threatening to kill him by Thursday. The deadline was
later extended to Friday.

Investigators are treating the group as Pearl's "real kidnappers" because
their e-mails contained photos of the reporter, Karachi police chief Tariq
Jamil told AFP.

But they are concerned at the group's silence since the last photo of Pearl
was sent by e-mail on Wednesday.

"It is a big concern for us as they have not sent any fresh message, but in
high-profile kidnappings sometimes the kidnappers take time," Jamil said.

Investigators meanwhile have fanned out beyond Karachi to the interior of
Sindh province, Baluchistan province in the west, Punjab province in the east
and the border town of Peshawar in North West Frontier Province, Jamil said.

Twelve people detained in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad over the weekend
remained in custody Monday, but police said no arrests had been made.

Interior Minister Haider said there were indications Pearl was alive "but I
cannot claim of making any breakthrough although we are getting close to the
men involved through various means".

The captors had demanded the release of Pakistanis among prisoners held at
the US naval base in Cuba. However the United States has ruled out
negotiations.




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