Pak SC orders Omar Sheikh's release in Pearl murder case; MEA lambasts travesty of justice

In a shocking development on Thursday, Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered the release of terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh- the main accused in the Daniel Pearl murder case. In 2002, Pearl, the 38-year-old South Asia Bureau of The Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped in Karachi and beheaded while he was pursuing a story on the links between ISI and Al-Qaeda. In custody since February 2002, Sheikh's death sentence was commuted to 7 years by the Sindh High Court on April 2, 2020, while three other accused serving life terms were acquitted.

The PPP-led Sindh government had challenged this verdict in Pakistan's apex court and immediately detained the 4 men under Section 3(1) of the West Pakistan Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960. However, the same Sindh HC bench struck down the provincial government's decision on December 24, 2020. However, the Sindh government refused to release the convicts in the wake of the pending case before Pakistan's SC. As per local media reports, one member of the three-judge bench dissented from the majority view in rejecting the Sindh government's appeal of the HC order. 

Read: Five-year-old Boy Drives An SUV In Pakistan, Police In Action After Video Goes Viral

'Travesty of justice'

British-born-terrorist Omar Sheikh dropped out of the London School of Economics and instead, underwent training at terror camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In 1994, he was arrested in India for kidnapping foreign tourists and remained incarcerated till he was freed by the NDA government in exchange for hostages of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight which was diverted to Kandahar in Afghanistan in December 1999. Sheikh returned to Pakistan after his release. 

Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs has condemned this verdict. Briefing the media, MEA official spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, "I have mentioned earlier about the low conviction rate of Pakistan in sentencing terror accused. And this case demonstrates the lack of any seriousness on part of Pakistan for taking action on terror-related issues. It is also a travesty of justice not to find Omar Saeed guilty of any charges in this heinous charge of terror. Our position on Pakistan taking verifiable, credible and irreversible action against terrorism and terrorist funding emanating from all territories under its control remains unchanged."

Read: 65-yr-old Woman Finally Returns To India After Being Locked Up For 18 Yrs In Pakistan Jail

Read: Pakistan Pilot & Others Spot 'Massive UFO' In Karachi Sky; 'Aliens Came To Collect Debt?'