Observer Report
Islamabad
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Sindh government’s plea to suspend Sindh High Court’s judgement regarding the release and acquittal of accused in the murder case of American journalist Daniel Pearl.
During the hearing, Justice Manzoor Malik said the petition seeking suspension of the judgment cites irrelevant provisions.
“First of all, the kidnapping of Daniel Pearl must be proved, Justice Malik said. Evidence must prove that the abductee was Daniel Pearl. The Sindh government claims that a conspiracy was hatched in Rawalpindi. What conspiracy took place in Rawalpindi must also be proved with evidence.”
“We should be provided a complete record of the case,” Justice Malik remarked. “I want to look at all the records so that I can understand all the points.”
The apex court ordered the counsel representing the provincial government, Farooq H Naek, to submit the detailed record before the court for the case to be further heard. The hearing was then adjourned indefinitely.
The Sindh government had sought time to submit the record of the trial court. The judge added that the court has to check whether the confession and identification parade was in accordance with the law or not.
“The facts cannot be ignored,” he added. On April 2, 2020, the SHC had commuted the death sentence of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the man convicted of kidnapping and murdering American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002, to a seven-year sentence. The SHC had also acquitted three others who had been awarded life imprisonment in the case. The order came almost two decades after they were found guilty and subsequently jailed.
The slain journalist’s parents had approached the Supreme Court against the Sindh High Court’s verdict. Two criminal petitions had been filed by renowned lawyer Faisal Siddiqi on behalf of Pearl’s parents, Ruth Pearl and Judie Pearl, against the acquittal and release of the four accused.
“The decision by the Sindh High Court to free the men in the murder of Daniel Pearl is a complete miscarriage of justice. It is a defining case for the Pakistani state and its judicial system, involving freedom of the press, the sanctity of every life, freedom from terror and the manifestation of a welcoming and safe Pakistan to the world. Rarely has any court case embodied and risked such fundamental values,” said the lawyer.
