July 21, 2002	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 10,1423

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WASHINGTON, July 20: The US State Department has warned the Americans not to travel to Pakistan, after the last week’s conviction of four men for kidnapping and slaying Wall Street newsman Daniel Pearl.

In a warning issued on Friday afternoon, the department has also advised those US citizens already in Pakistan to leave the country.

“While we have no specific information concerning possible retaliation by sympathizers, the potential exists for such action against the US citizens and its interests,” the warning said.

In the messages sent to journalists by their lawyers, the four convicts had warned of harsh reprisals against the United States, and other Western nationals and their Pakistani friends if the Pakistani government carried out the death sentence against chief suspect Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh.

Referring to previous travel warnings issued after mounting tensions between India and Pakistan, the State Department said:”The risk of renewed tensions between them cannot be ruled out.”