WASHINGTON, March 15: The indictment here of the main accused in the Daniel Pearl’s kidnapping and murder case, Sheikh Omar Saeed, is expected to increase pressure on Pakistan to extradite him to the United States.

Saeed was indicted by a federal grand jury in New Jersey on Thursday and accused of conspiracy to commit hostage taking that resulted in the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl’s death and of hostage taking that resulted in the reporter’s murder. Both crimes are punishable by death. The Journal is based in New Jersey and received e-mails from the kidnappers at its offices in the state.

It is believed that the indictment is the start of a legal process that will bring Saeed into US custody. Pakistan has so far said it would want its own legal processes to deal with the accused first in the Pearl case before considering extraditing anyone to America.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Thursday afternoon the US had made clear that it wanted to see Saeed brought to justice and was willing to do so here. At the same time, Mr Boucher said, the US recognized that Pakistan wanted “to see justice done, the same way we do. They have charges against him. So we have been in discussions, as we usually do when this situation arises. We have been in discussions with the Pakistan government about how to handle the trials, sequence the trials, whatever else needs to be done after that should there be conviction and sentencing”.

Mr Boucher said the discussions had not yet been finalized. “But these things will be worked out with the government of Pakistan to figure out how to make sure that he is indeed brought to justice since that is our common goal, and then how to organize the process so that the justice systems of our two countries can deal with the situation.” Saeed has said in court that he planned Pearl’s abduction, but later claimed his confession was extorted under duress. Pakistan officials and FBI investigators have apparently found little concrete proof so far of Saeed’s involvement, and The Washington Post said on Friday the US indictment provided a back-up plan in case Saeed was released from custody by Pakistan.

That fear, the paper says, stems in part from the case of Bela J. Nuss, an American citizen, who was allegedly kidnapped by Saeed in India in 1994. Saeed was arrested and incarcerated, but was released in a deal worked out to secure the release of a an Indian Airlines plane hijacked to Kandahar.