KARACHI, July 15: Police were on high alert in the city on Monday to maintain law and order when an anti-terrorism court in Hyderabad awarded death sentence to Omar Shaikh and life term to his three accomplices for kidnapping and killing US journalist Daniel Pearl.
Police and personnel of other law-enforcement agencies patrolled roads and thoroughfares to keep an eye on potential trouble-makers.
Law-enforcement agencies rounded up more than three dozen people in various parts of the city. Those who were rounded up appeared to be religious activists.
Sources in police said specially-trained commandos had been deployed at sensitive places, including the US and other foreign consulates, offices of high commissions, residences of foreign dignitaries, important government and private offices, offices of multinational companies, US-based fast food outlets in the city, and important installations. Security had also been made stricter at the airport, railway stations, entry and exit routes to the city, shopping centres, commercial and trade centres and other important places.
Snap check of vehicles was carried out on different roads and thoroughfares, including various points on Sharea Faisal, Malir Cantonment Road, Liaquatabad, Nazimabad, Korangi Road, Orangi Town, Sohrab Goth, Quaidabad, Hub river Road and other areas, where policemen and rangers sepoys searched vehicles and frisked their occupants.
Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter, went missing on Jan 23. He was last seen near Hotel Metropole in Karachi. Police registered a case in connection with his kidnapping on a complaint lodged by Marianne Pearl, Daniel’s wife, at Artillery Maidan police station. A supplementary section of murder was incorporated into the FIR, after a movie was sent to police showing the killing of Daniel.
The sources said the Sindh police were convinced that Daniel was dead, though they had not found his body. It was the first case in the country’s history in which death sentence had been awarded to the accused even though the body of the deceased and the weapon of offence had not been recovered.
During the course of hearing of the case in Hyderabad, a body was recovered from the outskirts of the city. Police believed the chopped body, found in 10 pieces, was of Daniel’s. However, it had not been declared officially so far that the body was Daniel’s.
The sources said police had recommended to the Sindh government to have a DNA test of the body, and match its result with the DNA of Daniel’s.
A senior official of the Sindh police said the DNA test had been carried out and it was sent to specialists in the United States for final opinion. The final opinion was still awaited.