ISLAMABAD, Feb 14: The statement by Sheikh Omar that Daniel Pearl is dead may well be a message for the kidnappers to kill the Wall Street Journal reporter, senior officials in the federal interior ministry told Dawn here on Thursday.

“Either it is a message for the kidnappers or he is trying to take the pressure off him and mislead the investigators,” said Brigadier Javed Cheema, Director-general of Crisis Management Cell of the Interior Ministry.

The interior ministry officials, doubting the veracity of the claim by the prime suspect in the kidnapping case, said the credibility of Sheikh Omar’s statement was doubtful as first he claimed that Daniel was alive and then he retracted his earlier statement. “How can you believe such a person,?” said Brig Cheema.

The investigations are now increasingly focussed on finding out if Daniel is alive or not. “Nothing could be said about Daniel’s fate unless something concrete comes out,” sources said.

In response to a question about any specific leads, Brig Cheema said: “Sheikh Omar made at least 24 calls to India while in hiding.”

He said the prime suspect had named a few people and the authorities were now trying to trace them out.

“He has given some names but it is believed that he is trying to mislead the investigations,” Brig Cheema said.

Brig Cheema, who is also keeping President General Musharraf informed about the case in the United States, said: “It is surprising the list of 20 people handed over to Pakistan by India does not mention Sheikh Omar despite his involvement in kidnapping and abduction cases there.”

As sun set on another day, the enthusiasm of the authorities on the arrest of Sheikh Omar went down as they once again suspect the hand of the Indian intelligence agencies in the case.

As the Pakistan authorities are focussing on Indian connection to the case, the US authorities are becoming increasingly suspicious of renegade elements of an elite intelligence agency of the country having a clue to kidnapping.

Sources said the US authorities had asked for a list of officials who had worked in the Afghan cell of the intelligence agency during the past few years.

When contacted for official confirmation, the interior ministry officials said: “We are unaware of such a demand. The FBI has a direct liaison with ISI and if such a thing has happened directly on FBI-ISI channel, we do not know of it.”

According to Dawn investigations, Khalid Khawaja, an ex-ISI official, who was involved in back-track diplomatic initiative with Taliban till the US bombings started on Oct 6, was interrogated by the police authorities in connection with the reporter’s kidnapping.

“There was a midnight raid on my house by intelligence agency officials at 4am but I had left at 2am just two days before Mubarak Shah Gillani appeared before the SSP Rawalpindi,” Khawaja said.

Khawaja, who retired from ISI in 1988, formed a movement by the name of Islamic Solidarity Movement and was arrested during 1995 on charges of dacoity and the intent to kill.

“The case was politically motivated as Benazir Bhutto wanted me to become an approver against Nawaz Sharif,” Khawaja claimed.

In response to a question about his involvement with the Afghan war, Khawaja told Dawn that Mansur Ijaz, a lobbyist for Pakistan in the US and former CIA director James Woolsey were in contact with him for negotiations with the Taliban for release of hostages till Oct 6, the day when the US started bombing on Afghanistan.

Showing the exchange of his correspondence with Mansur Ijaz and James Woolsey, Khawaja claimed that he had good relations with Taliban.

However, the official sources said Khawaja was not assigned any such role by the government.

Replying to a question about his meeting with Daniel Pearl, the ex-ISI operative, who also runs a business firm doing research and development for the Pakistan Navy, and is also involved in telecommunications and CNG business, said: “Danny first time contacted me from Bombay at the end of September by giving a reference of Mansoor Ijaz, an American businessman involved in track-two diplomacy on Kashmir and Afghanistan.”

Khawaja claimed that he introduced Mr Pearl to his contacts and arranged interviews with Taliban diplomats and other people.

Recalling his recent meetings with the kidnapped reporter, Khawaja said Daniel Pearl had became interested in Mubarak Shah Gillani during January.

“On January 6 or 7, Pearl called me to arrange an interview with Gillani which I instantly ruled out,” Khawaja told Dawn.

He said after the refusal, Pearl did not contact him again but another intriguing visitor, Asra Nomani, an Indian American, established contacts with him through his wife. Khawaja claimed that Asra Nomani visited his house on a number of occasions but the last he heard from her was on the morning of Jan 24 before the morning prayers.

“Asra told me about Danny’s disappearance and sought help in recovering him.”

Later, Khawaja said, her tone changed and she threatened to give the whole story to the police who were present with her. A police official talked to me and sought help in tracing Mubarik Shah Gillani.

“They did not consult me before going for the interview but it is surprising why they chose me to be the first person to be informed about Daniel’s kidnapping,” Khawaja said, questioning if Daniel Pearl and Asra Nomani had somehow crossed the danger point from where other journalists had chosen to retreat earlier.

Khawaja said Asra Nomani gave him the mobile phones of individuals they contacted for arranging the interview thinking that he knew them.

A conservative Muslim, Khawaja said he knew Mubarik Shah Gillani as spiritual leader who had a number of followers in the US. “It is a big plot to hand over Gillani to the US authorities,” he said.

Brig Cheema told Dawn that Gillani was wanted by the US authorities and his name was on the list of terrorists wanted by the US.

Gillani is reported to have helped establish a chain of Islamic universities in the United States and Canada known as the Quranic Open Universities.

According to the Muslims of America Movement, the organizations that have been established by American Muslims under the guidance of Gillani were: Muslims of the Americas, Inc.; International Quranic Open Universities; Kashmiri-American Friendship Society; Binaat-un-Noor International, Inc. (American Muslim Women’s Organization) and Zavia Book, USA.

Informed sources said the interest of Daniel Pearl and Farah Stockman of Boston Globe in tracing out Gillani had raised suspicions about their “professional interests.”

The journalists were investigating things which were beyond the reach of FBI, a thing which was not liked by many who are pursuing their own agendas despite President Musharraf’s strong directives.

According to Khawaja, he was being considered a suspect who led Daniel Pearl into trouble. Sharing the exchange of correspondence with the Newsweek, Khawaja said it was on the intervention of Mansur Ijaz that Newsweek toned down its article which was allegedly raising an accusing finger on him. Following is the text of the letter written by Gretel Kovach of Newsweek to Khalid Khawaja:

“If it is any consolation, you may have read in the e-mails I sent Mansoor that the Newsweek article would have been much stronger in pointing the finger at you as the person who led Danny into trouble. Thankfully I spoke with Mansoor and was able to offer a contrary account — that you refused Danny’s request, and that others tricked him into thinking he could meet Gilani. Sadly it wasn’t enough to completely overpower the Pakistani sources other Newsweek people had at the time, but it was something.”

Daniel Pearl, it is learnt, was not the only journalist looking for Mubarik Shah Gillani. Farah Stockman of Boston Globe delivered a letter at the house of father of Mubarik Shah Gillani, which according to Khawaja’s claim was handed over to him.

The contents of the letter, delivered for Gillani by Farah Stockman and which was later on delivered to Khalid Khawaja were:

“Dear Sir,

“I am a black American journalist from Boston Globe who has been following your case for some time. I have heard some rumours of recent accusation against you, and I wanted so much to reach you and hear your point of view, because that is the only way to know the truth. If you could oblige me by answering questions in a letter or on telephone (or even in person) I would not disclose the place where I have found you and would do my utmost to keep your identity secret. I was hoping to talk to you about whether or not you feel the US government has been unfair to call Al-Fuqra a criminal organization. I am also interested in your experience opening the eyes of so many Americans to Islam.

“Lastly, I have heard rumours that Richard Reid, a UK citizen who is accused of trying to hide a bomb in his shoes, was a follower of yours. Please can you answer these for me so that I can know the truth instead of believing what others say? I very much appreciate your consideration. Farah Stockman.”

According to the ex-ISI operative, he told Farah Stockman that Mr Gillani had no connection with Richard Reid or of the sort and to assess his activities, she better meet his people in the States where he has a sizable following. The group, mostly black, is known as Muslims of America and publishes Islamic Post from New York.

Sources said that Gillani sought Khawaja’s help in dispelling the misperceptions of Farah Stockman.

Arguing the case of Gillani and others arrested in the case of Daniel Peal kidnapping, Khawaja told Dawn: “How can someone justify the agonies of the families who are being denied basic fundamental rights like my friend Gilani, his son and many others who have been and are being victimised.”

Criticizing the hypocritical policies of the authorities, Khawaja said Gillani’s wife was also an American citizen but she was denied all the fundamental rights just because she was black. “Dany and Mubarak Gilani both were innocent and both have been kidnapped, both have American wives, one is black and the other is white and see the difference in treatment of the case by the American media,” he said.

The former ISI official is not the only one having links with the intelligence agencies who has raised suspicions about the role of renegade elements in the case.

Investigation by the authorities have revealed that a constable of the Karachi police special branch, Adeel, was working with a Jaish-i-Mohammad, a banned militant organization. Adeel had told the investigators to locate the powerful friends of Sheikh Omar if they wanted to recover Daniel Pearl, sources said.

Sheikh Omar did not raise any eyebrows until he was named a suspect in Daniel Pearl’s kidnapping case.

However, according to the Establishment, he was suspected of having strong Indian connections and the entire drama of Kandahar hijacking was created to launch agents of the Indian intelligence into Pakistan. That perhaps explains why the Indians did not give his name in the list of 20 terrorists wanted by it, a senior interior ministry official said.

Sheikh Omar, involved in the kidnapping of foreigners in the Indian-Occupied Kashmir, was imprisoned by Indian authorities in 1994. He was freed as part of a deal with hijackers of an Indian Airlines jet in Kandahar.

The sources said that another very mysterious turn which the case took was offering of funeral prayers in absentia for a militant known by the name of Arif, a person with whom Daniel sought a meeting. How, when and where the militant was killed and where his dead body is are some of the questions which remain unanswered.

According to the officials, the entire case appears to be a plot hatched by the Indians to embarrass President Musharraf on his visit to the US and provide the US authorities a chance to explore the underground linkages of the Pakistani intelligence apparatus.