Posted on 01/30/2002 4:01:46 PM PST by anniegetyourgun
Pakistani officials have arrested an Islamic cleric believed to be the prime suspect in the abduction of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, both Pakistani and U.S. State Department sources said Wednesday.
Pearl's whereabouts were still unknown, but a U.S. intelligence official confirmed "as probably genuine" an e-mail sent Wednesday to news organizations. The message threatened to kill Pearl within 24 hours and warned all "Amereekcan journalists" in Pakistan to leave within three days.
Aaron Bedy, a spokesman for the Wall Street Journal, told United Press International Wednesday evening the newspaper had not received further updates on Pearl or his condition.
Sheik Mubarak Ali Shan Gilani was arrested by Pakistani police in the northern city of Rawalpindi and transported to Karachi, State Department officials said. At least a dozen of his followers have also been detained.
News of the arrest followed a UPI exclusive report published Tuesday that said Gilani was the man Pearl was on his way to interview when he was kidnapped. The UPI report said U.S. intelligence officials suspected possible ties between Pearl's kidnappers and Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence Directorate.
Gilani -- also known as Mubarak Ali Shah and Sheik Mubarak Ali Jilani Hasmi -- leads an Islamic extremist group called Tanzaimul Fuqra.
Al Fuqra is a splinter group of the extremist Army of Muhammad, a jihadi organization recently banned by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf but which has had long-standing connections with senior ISI officials, State Department analysts said.
The links are so clear, said former CIA chief of counterterrorism Vince Cannistraro, that "Gilani has some former senior ISI official sitting on the board of his organization."
The e-mail accused Pearl of being an agent of Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, an allegation the Wall Street Journal immediately denied: "He is a reporter for us -- nothing more or less," a published statement said. "He cannot affect the policy of the U.S. or Pakistan government. Nor can we."
The e-mail accused other U.S. journalists of being spies as well.
According to U.S. intelligence officials, al Fuqra's members include African-American citizens wooed to follow a militant form of Islam. The group has carried out terrorist acts within the United States, including murder, robbery and welfare fraud, the bulk of the attacks occurring in the mid-to-late 1980s.
Cannistraro said some attacks continued in the mid-1990s, however, and included "the murder of the leader of a mosque in Tucson, Ariz." Lt. Michael Grys of the intelligence unit of the Colorado Spings, Colo., Police Department confirmed the information, telling UPI he investigated the group in 1989 and has first-hand knowledge of the Tucson case.
Al Fuqra, which used to be known as Jamaat-ul-Fuqra, is described in the State Department's 1998 "Patterns of Global Terrorism" as follows: "Seeks to purify Islam through violence. Members have purchased isolated rural compounds in North America to live communally, practice their faith and insulate themselves from Western culture. (Al) Fuqra members have attacked a variety of targets that they view as enemies of Islam, including Muslims they regard as heretics and Hindus."
U.S. intelligence officials said al Fuqra has close ties with Pakistan's ISI, prompting suspicion that the ISI was involved in the reporter's abduction. Former State Department and CIA counterterrorism expert, Larry Johnson, told United Press International: "It's either ISI or someone trying very hard to make it look like ISI."
Al Fuqra also has close ties with another Pakistani extremist group, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen -- an organization that, significantly, was left off Musharraf's Jan. 12 list of banned organizations, and which has known ties to al Qaida, U.S. intelligence officials said.
Pearl, who was doing research on Richard Reid, the shoe-bomb suspect who was allegedly trained by al Qaida in Afghanistan, has been missing since last Wednesday.
According to UPI sources, Pearl had gone to the U.S. embassy in Islamabad asking for guidance about plans to interview Gilani, a supposed contact of Reid's.
Pearl was to be taken to the Tanzaimul Fuqra interview by two Pakistani guides. Embassy officials strongly advised against his going alone, without an interpreter or local assistant, State Department officials said.
Pearl disappeared from Karachi last Wednesday night. The State Department confirmed a taxi driver told police that he took Pearl to the Metropole Hotel where he was last seen.
Later, e-mail messages arriving at the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and news organizations in Pakistan, announced that Pearl had been kidnapped and detailed conditions for his release.
A group calling itself "The National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty" demanded repatriation of the Pakistani prisoners taken from Afghanistan to Cuba and the release of F-16 fighter aircraft purchased in the 1980s by the Pakistani government. The delivery of the planes was canceled by Congress in 1990 in response to Pakistan's continuing efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
"The kidnappers' conditions are all over the lot," Johnson pointed out. "What terrorist is going to ask for release of F-16s? They aren't a terrorist's weapon of choice."
Such demands smack more of ISI involvement, he told UPI.
In addition to Israel's Mossad, the kidnappers earlier accused Pearl of working for the CIA. Both The Wall Street Journal and the CIA promptly denied that the agency had any relation with the reporter.
But U.S. intelligence officials noted that Pearl has been the head of the Wall Street Journal's bureau in Bombay, India, for the last two years, and one said: "That could have meant trouble for (Pearl). Everyone out there thinks a journalist is a spy and his being in India wouldn't help."
Tensions between India and Pakistan have remained at a high level since Dec. 13 attacks on the Indian Parliament by Pakistani-based jihadi groups that killed a dozen people, including the five terrorist suspects.
I never thought those two missionary girls would come home and they did, so hope is still very much alive.
My prayers are with Mr. Pearl and his family.
Muslims of the Americas (MOA) is a virulently anti-Semitic, Islamic extremist group with ties to Al-Fuqra, a terrorist organization that has carried out firebombings and murders in the United States. MOA claims to have offices in six U.S. cities and Toronto and maintains secluded residential communities in New York, Virginia and California. The group's Web site and e-mails have featured writings by notorious anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers, including Michael Hoffman and former Klansman David Duke.
MOA was founded and is led by the radical Pakistani cleric El Sheikh Sayyid Mubarik Ali Jilani (commonly known as Sheikh Jilani or Sheikh Gilani). Based in Lahore, Pakistan, Jilani established MOA in 1980, after arriving in the United States for the first time. In the 1980s, Jilani, who claims to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, actively recruited American Muslims to fight against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. MOA claims to have offices in six U.S. cities and Toronto, and it maintains secluded residential communities in New York, Virginia, California, and possibly other states. The group also runs a Web site and an e-mail mailing list.
The available evidence strongly suggests that MOA has served as a corporate front for another group founded by Sheik Jilani, the terrorist organization Al-Fuqra, which has committed firebombings and murders on U.S. soil. Both Sheikh Jilani and MOA officials deny that Al-Fuqra even exists, and MOA claims to be a "peaceful" group. Though relatively few members of MOA have been arrested for criminal activity, two residents of the MOA community in Virginia were recently arrested for firearms violations, and a resident of the MOA community in California was recently arrested for the murder of a Sheriff's Deputy. Muslims of the Americas: In Their Own Words Here are examples of anti-Semitic, anti-Christian,anti-American, and homophobic statements made by MOA, as well as comments that promote violence:
...see more at link.
---------------------------
From: Patterns of Global Terrorism, 1999. United States Department of State, April 2000.
Comments on the content of the material should be sent to the U.S. Department of State
Description
Islamic sect that seeks to purify Islam through violence. Led by Pakistani cleric Shaykh Mubarik Ali Gilani, who established the organization in the early 1980s. Gilani now resides in Pakistan, but most cells are located in North America and the Caribbean. Members have purchased isolated rural compounds in North America to live communally, practice their faith, and insulate themselves from Western culture.
Activities
Fuqra members have attacked a variety of targets that they view as enemies of Islam, including Muslims they regard as heretics and Hindus. Attacks during the 1980s included assassinations and firebombings across the United States. Fuqra members in the United States have been convicted of crimes, including murder and fraud.
Strength
Unknown.
Location/Area of Operation
North America, Pakistan.
External Aid
None.See also:
INFORMATION REGARDING COLORADO'S INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF MEMBERS OF JAMAAT UL FUQRA
If that doesn't work, tape his eyelids open and strap him in front of a nude video of Hillary and Suha.
So do I, and for the Burnhams (the missionaries being held in the Phillipines.)
The Lord can free them all just as suddenly as He did the missionaries in Afghanistan.
Yes.....I've been praying for them too. Their ordeal has gone on so long !!!!! I ache for the family.
I saw a news report that said the Burnham's may have been killed in a fire fight with the rebels. Also, I expect that the ISI will assassinate Musharraf in the near future.
Members have purchased isolated rural compounds in North America to live communally, practice their faith and insulate themselves from Western culture. (Al) Fuqra members have attacked a variety of targets that they view as enemies of Islam, including Muslims they regard as heretics and Hindus.
We have replacements for the Navy bombing range in Puerto Rico.
Sad to say, Mr. Pearl is a dead man, and our authorities should proceed on that assumption.
Yes He can and that's what I'm praying for.
Not likely. Been going on as long as civilization.
Do a google search on Darius, Xerxes, Hannibal, Saladin, Suleyman.
It starts here. http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_1/herodotus.html
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/OTTOMAN/SULEYMAN
People get ready.
Why is there an Islamic Village in the foothills near Fresno?
Here's more on the Fuqra leader Shiekh Jilani/Gilani. He has a Fresno connection.
I agree and this is just the beginning. Many will be captured and held hostage with the demand for the release of the Cuban captives. Be on your toes, folks.
As for the cleric, start sending pieces of him to the local mosques on the hour every hour until either the journalist is released or the cleric has been dismembered entirely. Let the Francophiles moan and groan about the Geneva Convention.
Yeah, he did an amazing job transfer from the CIA in just one day.
Another variation on "deny, deflect & blame it on the Jews.'
The Colorado stuff was absolutely chilling.
And any injury to Western journalists will result in the same thing.
What other kind of tortures do you people recommend? DO TELL!
I found The Bronze Bowl pretty disturbing.
Unforgettable. From snakes in mailboxes (Synanon) to God knows what.
Here's a WP story on that:
Man Linked to Muslim Group Held in Va. He was arrested at the Muslims of America compound in the rural Red House area of northern Charlotte County, in south-central Virginia. That's roughly 30 miles SE (more east than south) of Lynchburg.
I surely hope this does not turn more tragic. . .but what rationale was Mr. Pearl using to approach this enemy alone. . .
As a correspondent for the WSJ I'm sure his career track was established before he was married. Speaking of his wife, she was interviewed last evening on TV and is a very attractive young thing ... with a French accent.
Sooooo true!!! California revoked the charter of Gateway Charter Schools, which had a satellite campus above Fresno. The compound called Baladullah, house black-muslims, and hosts the Open Islamic Koranic Univ, which is owned by Muslims Of America, which is ran by Sheik Jilani/Gilani.Ul-Fuqra!
The sad part here is since the Fresno Co school board revoked their state funding, the parents are continuing to send their kids to the school. The local media now reports their plight postured as "racism", and drops the terrorist association story. And, the resident arrested, and charged with murdering a Fresno County Sheriff's deputy.
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