July 16, 2002	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 5, 1423

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HYDERABAD, July 15: Ahmed Omer Saeed Sheikh, who was awarded death sentence in the Daniel Pearl case, said on Monday he would see who would die first - he or those who wanted to kill him.

This was stated by him in a message that was delivered to newsmen by defence counsel Rai Bashir Ahmed on his behalf after he met Omer Shaikh.

“I had told my lawyers that it was an exercise in futility. It was only due to my father that I had contested this case. A war between Islam and Kufr is going on,” Sheikh Omer was quoted as saying.

Rai Bashir said Salman Saqib in his message said Allah Almighty always did justice. “The conviction should have been awarded to the rulers who were responsible for the killing of 50,000 Muslims. We had already expressed no confidence in the presiding judge and the trial court. So the conviction did not come as a surprise to us,” he was quoted as saying by Rai Bashir.

“We regret the silence of people and not of the government,” Rai Bashir quoted Fahad Naseem as having said in his message. Naseem asked when people would rise against anti-Islam forces. He said perhaps when their own children were targeted only then people would rise.

He said such a time was not far away.

Adil Sheikh said he hoped all the soldiers of Pakistan Army and policemen would raise their voice against this injustice.