WASHINGTON, July 16: The United States said on Tuesday it would not push Pakistan for extraditing the man condemned to death for masterminding the abduction and subsequent killing of American journalist Daniel Pearl.

“We are waiting for the outcome of the case,” a State Department official told Dawn. “After all he is under a death sentence.”

On Monday, an anti-terrorism court in Hyderabad sentenced Ahmed Omer Saeed Shaikh to death and his accomplices — Syed Salman Saqib, Fahad Naseem and Shaikh Adil — to life imprisonment in the kidnapping and murder case.

They have seven days to appeal the judgment.

On March 14, a federal grand jury in Trenton, New Jersey, indicted Omer on charges of kidnapping The Wall Street Journal reporter. The US Justice Department also disclosed a 2001 Washington grand jury indictment of Omer for the 1994 kidnapping of an American tourist in India, who was released unharmed.

Asked if the US would still insist for the extradition if a high court endorsed the verdict, the State Department official said: “Think about it, what does the approval of a death sentence mean?”

Earlier, the department’s spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters that Washington’s decision to follow up on its extradition request would “depend on the outcome of the Pakistani political process and assuming there is an appeal (against the verdict) that may be some time down the road.”

Asked if the US would want Omer extradited once the appeal is settled, he said: “We’ll have to see how things turn out.”

Commenting on the consequences of the verdict against Omer and his accomplices, Boucher said Washington was “urging all Americans in Pakistan to remain particularly vigilant in their personal security practices at this time.”

He said the State Department was not issuing a fresh warning for the Americans living in Pakistan but “our embassy I think is in touch with the American community to try to encourage people to be careful.”

Since Sept 11, the US has already issued three travel warnings for Pakistan urging its nationals to avoid visiting the country and asking those already there to be vigilant.