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Kidnapped Journalist's Fate Unclear in Pakistan, Search Goes On
Saturday, February 2, 2002
(15:36)
By Edward DeMarco & Tony Capaccio
Bloomberg

President George W. Bush said investigators have tried to “follow the trail of the e-mails that have been sent.” He vowed that the U.S. “will continue to do everything we can to rescue him.”

WASHINGTON
The Wall Street Journal and Pakistani officials said it's likely abducted reporter Daniel Pearl is alive, as U.S. officials sought to resolve conflicting claims in e-mails that he was executed.

The kidnappers said Pearl, 38, would die unless the U.S. frees Pakistani al-Qaeda members captured in Afghanistan during the U.S. military campaign to oust the Taliban regime. As a second deadline passed, police in Karachi, where Pearl was seized last week, told reporters they had no new leads.

The Journal, owned by New York-based Dow Jones & Co., said it was optimistic. “Based on reports from Pakistan, we now believe that both of the messages received about Danny were false. We continue to believe Danny is alive and we urge them to release Danny. If that is not possible, we call on them to demonstrate Danny is alive,” said the statement.

State Department spokesman Frederick Smith declined to speculate on Pearl's status. “We are working with the Pakistani government to ascertain the facts,” he said. “We are not trying to parse the words in the various e-mails.”
(More: Bloomberg.com News Source)
2002 © Bloomberg L.P.

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