KARACHI: The Sindh High Court today (Thursday) has declared the provincial government’s detention order of the accused exonerated in the abduction and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl case ‘illegal’ and ordered their immediate release.
The court declared the detention of Umer Shaikh and four other accused illegal. However, their names were placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) and they were also directed to appear before the court whenever summoned.
During today’s hearing, a two-judge bench presided over by Justice K. K. Agha, pronounced the order after hearing arguments from both sides and observed that the provincial authorities unable to produce justified reasons or the detention of the accused.
The court said that the accused have been in jail for the last 18 years without committing any crime. The bench also directed the security agencies not to keep Sheikh and other accused under ‘any sort of detention’ and declared all notifications of the Sindh government related to their detention ‘null and void’.
Apart from Umar Sheikh, the others accused in the case are Fahad Naseem, Syed Suleman Saqib and Sheikh Muhammad Adil. After their acquittal on charges of murder by the high court in April, the provincial government had placed them under 90-day detention.
On July 1, a fresh notification under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, was issued to extend their detention by three months, and later their confinement was extended for yet another 90 days.
Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journalist working in Pakistan, was abducted in Karachi in January 2002 while doing research on religious extremism.
