Daniel Pearl and I were both trying to interview the same reclusive spiritual leader in Pakistan when he was kidnapped and killed. He had a friend in Waziristan, a semiautonomous tribal area considered off-limits even for the Pakistani military at the time. (To free the hostages of that hijacked plane, India released a jihadist who had been imprisoned for kidnapping tourists: Omar Sheikh.) But associates of the spiritual leader vigorously denied any association, claiming it as a plot to discredit him. She told me there is little doubt that Omar Sheikh is responsible for the murder.

Source: bd News24 January 11, 2021 04:29 UTC