Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf vowed to leave no stone unturned in hunting the killers of American reporter Daniel Pearl, and declared war on all terrorists in Pakistan.
In a national television address tonight, General Musharraf said all resources would be thrown into finding the executioners of the
Wall Street Journal
reporter, whose captors filmed him as they cut his throat and then sent the video to a journalist.
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A photo released last month by the kidnappers of Daniel Pearl
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There were fears time was already running out to pick up the trail, as Pakistan headed into the three-day-long Eid ul-Adha festival or Feast of the Sacrifice, when the country comes to a standstill.
The immediate quarry were three to four radicals believed to have carried out the murder. Other members of the gang, including the suspected mastermind, were already in police custody.
"I can assure my countrymen that we will not leave any stone unturned to bring all these people involved in this murder to justice and set an example of them for other such people who may be thinking of such acts in the future," Gen Musharraf declared.
He vowed to wipe out all extremist groups.
"I think our resolve increases with such acts to move more strongly against all such terrorist people and those organisations which perpetrate such terrorism. To move against them and liquidate them entirely from our country," he said.
In early January, Gen Musharraf banned five extremist groups and rounded up nearly 2,000 of their followers to ensure they did not disrupt the presence of US forces in Pakistan.
Mr Pearl disappeared in Karachi on January 23rd as he tried to contact Islamic radical groups and investigate possible links between alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid and the al-Qaeda network.
The Washington Postsaid Mr Pearl had his throat slit with a knife in a tape that was sent to Pakistan and US authorities.
The Post, citing a source close to the investigation, reported the tape showed Mr Pearl speaking, as if he were conducting an interview, when suddenly an assailant grabbed him and slit his throat. Mr Pearl's body has not been found and it is unclear when and where he was executed.
President Bush, speaking during a visit to China, called the killing a "criminal, barbaric" act. Mr Pearl's family said it was a "senseless murder" that had silenced "a gentle soul".
The group claiming to hold Mr Pearl called itself the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty and accused the American of being a spy - first for the CIA, then for Israeli intelligence. It said the kidnap was to protest against US treatment of Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners from the Afghan war.