Snoopy Ice Cream Parlour and the Real Story of Daniel Pearl’s Kidnapping
Last Sunday afternoon, Pakistan’s leading English daily newspaper, Dawn, published headline news of the arrest of a militant tied to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), a domestic sectarian militant group: “Former LeJ chief involved in Daniel Pearl murder arrested in Karachi.” The article trumpeted the arrest as “yet another success” of “security forces” in their “ongoing targeted operation against militants and lawbreakers in Karachi.”
The story made its way around the world, landing on CNN within two days. The New York Times declared: “Suspect in Daniel Pearl killing is arrested in Pakistan.”
Most certainly, the news that Pakistan’s elite Rangers force arrested Pakistani militant Abdul Hayee is important. He has a long criminal record, linked to bombings, sectarian assassinations against Shia targets and domestic mayhem. U.S. President Barack Obama, the Justice Department, and the State Department should press for Hayee to be prosecuted.
But as important as Hayee’s prosecution, is understanding the events that precipitated his arrest, and recognizing that amidst the drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan we must put a magnifying glass to militancy in Pakistan on the street, village and individual level. The case of Abdul Hayee is illustrative of Pakistan’s failure to adhere to the rule of law in any meaningful, sustainable way.
Hayee was arrested before, in 2003, and presumably released. On May 29, 2003, Dawn, the same Pakistani English daily that trumpeted Hayee’s arrest last week, reported, “Terrorism convict arrested,” chronicling Hayee’s arrest. A few days later, The News, another English daily, reported with the headline, “Pearl kidnapping suspect appears in Pakistan” that Hayee had been charged. A detailed report by the United Nations Higher Commission for Refugees chronicled Hayee’s arrest and disappearance from public record.
This cat and mouse game has become business as usual, described by one U.S. official as “catch-and-release, catch-and-release.” For those who have watched the case closely, who have lived with it for years, there are many vexing questions: Did Pakistani forces secretly have Hayee all along? Are they going to prosecute? If so, why now? Why not the first time they picked up him? If they do, will they actually get a conviction? Or is there something even more unsettling going on? Is this an effort to release Omar Sheikh, the mastermind of the scheme to trap Pearl, convicted to death but his case pending appeal?
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