NEW DELHI, April 3: Israel’s foreign intelligence service, the Mossad, has been ordered to kill those responsible for the death of US journalist Daniel Pearl, The Hindustan Times said on Wednesday, quoting a published report.

The newspaper quoted the Jane’s Information Group as saying that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called in Mossad director Ephraim Halevy in the third week of February and issued “a precise instruction” to “get the assassins of Danny Pearl”. It said Indian intelligence sources accepted the credibility of the report.

Though a US resident, Pearl held US-Israeli dual citizenship, the report said. His father, Yehuda Pearl, was a well-known Jewish academic born in Tel Aviv. His grandmother still lives in that city.

Sharon issued the order after Pearl’s kidnappers released a video recording of Pearl’s execution, with Pearl saying, “I’m a Jew, so is my father”, before he died.

The report says Sharon’s instructions to the Mossad followed the assumption that Pearl was killed for his religion rather than nationality.

The Hindustan Times quoted Israeli officials as saying that the Jane’s report was incorrect. They said such rumours had arisen just after the video recording had been released but had died soon after.

“Intelligence analysts say denials would be routine if such an order were given,” the Times said. “Sharon would be just the type to give such an order,” one source told the Hindustan Times.—JN