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State
Department says kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl
dead The death of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl should serve as a cautionary note to all journalists not to take things for granted or to assume things are proceeding normally, said journalism professor Anantha Babbili Thursday. Babbili, a specialist in international communication, was reacting to The Associated Press reports from the State Department Thursday that Pearl is dead after being taken hostage a month ago by Islamic extremists in Pakistan. “There are people in the world who do not differentiate between American journalists and American foreign policy,” Babbili said. “That makes American journalists highly vulnerable and easy targets. “Decisions are to be carefully weighed, and journalists need to realize that they cannot trust people easily,” he said. Pearl was abducted Jan. 23 after arranging to interview the leader of a radical Muslim faction with purported ties to the al Qaeda terrorist network and terror suspect Richard C. Reid, who was arrested in December on a Paris-Miami flight he allegedly boarded with explosives in his shoes. Pakistani officials said there were indications that Pearl had been lured into a trap by false information. “On Thursday, a videotape was received which contained Daniel Pearl in captivity and the scene of his death,” said Mukhtar Ahmad Sheikh, interior minister of the Sindh province, which includes Karachi. “The video appears to be correct.” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher provided no details on the evidence. Two U.S. officials said, however, the FBI had obtained a videotape purportedly showing Pearl either dead or being killed and was evaluating the tape’s authenticity. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity. Sheikh refused to say whether he or other Pakistani officials had seen the videotape or what “the scene of his death” meant. The Journal said it believed Pearl was dead. “His murder is an act of barbarism that makes a mockery of everything Danny’s kidnappers claimed to believe in,” the newspaper said in a statement. “They claimed to be Pakistani nationalists, but their actions must surely bring shame to all true Pakistani patriots.” Babbili said there are dangerous parts of the world for American journalist, especially during war time. “This is a lesson that American journalists cannot afford to ignore,” Babbili said. “Meetings with sources must take place in open, public places.” In an intensive sweep, Pakistani police seized several suspects, including Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh, an Islamic militant who admitted in a court hearing that he had engineered Pearl’s abduction to protest Pakistan’s alliance with the United States’ post-Sept. 11 war on terrorism. The
Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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