Published 16:20 IST, February 2nd 2021
Pak SC orders security to rest house where Omar Sheikh will stay; permits family access
Pakistan Supreme Court ordered that the government should provide full security to the rest house where terrorist Omar Sheikh will be shifted from the jail.
Despite growing outrage over the Pakistan Supreme Court's order to release terrorist Omar Sheikh, it directed that he should be shifted from jail to a rest house within the next 2-3 days. This comes even as US Secretary of State Tony Blinken spoke to Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi about ensuring accountability for Sheikh, the main accused in Daniel Pearl 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. In a 2:1 verdict, a three-judge bench of Pakistan's SC dismissed the Sindh government' challenge against the HC order on January 28.
A day later, the Sindh government had filed a review petition and the Imran Khan-led government too moved an application seeking to be made a party to this plea. On Tuesday, Pakistan's top court ordered the authorities to ensure complete security to the rest house and allow Sheikh's family access to him from 8 am to 5 pm. It was hearing a petition filed by the terrorist against his detention. While Sheikh will not be given access to mobile and internet services, his family shall be provided accommodation and transport on the government's expense.
MEA condemns Pakistan SC order
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.
The Ministry of External Affairs too condemned the Pakistan SC's order to release him. 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."
Updated 16:20 IST, February 2nd 2021