Afghan author Ghafoor Ahmed lashes out at Pakistan as 'terrorist sponsor state'

 

Daniel Pearl was an American Journalist who was brutally murdered in Pakistan's Karachi on Feb 1, 2002. In 2002, when Pearl was investigating a story on terror groups' link to Al Qaeda, he was abducted and beheaded. In December 2020, Pakistan's Sindh High Court (SHC) directed to release Sheikh, Fahad Naseem, Sheikh Adil and Salman Saqib. In April 2020, the SHC had overturned the death sentence of Sheikh and sentenced him to seven years of imprisonment and acquitted three others accused by an anti-terrorism court. The United States has already expressed deep concerns over the SHC ruling to release multiple terrorists responsible for the murder of American journalist, Daniel Pearl.

 

Ghafoor, in his article, has claimed that Sheikh is not the first terrorist that the Pakistan Supreme Court has released from the charges. The author goes on adding, "Lashkar e Taiba Chief and a designated global terrorist, Hafiz Saeed has been released on several occasions by the high courts for want of evidence. In not one case, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had found it urgent and necessary to take note of such disregard for the rule of law, an indication of how the top judiciary for long been serving the interests of the army."

 

The author has further claimed that the acquittal by Pakistan's top court raises serious questions about Pakistan's recent hasty moves to prosecute Hafiz Saeed and other terrorist leaders in terrorist financing cases to comply with FATF conditions. He also added, "Sheikh's acquittal shows to what lengths can the army go to protect its agents of violence and betrays the sham that Pakistan's entire judicial system has become."