The Indian government announced on Thursday that its soldiers killed an Islamist terrorist who was indirectly involved in the murder of the Jewish-American journalist Daniel Pearl.
The party of Bharatiya Janata (BJP), the Indian power party, said that the Indian army had killed the Pakistani terrorist Abdul Rauf Azhar in “Operation Sindhoor”.
A group of Islamist terrorists linked to the Azhar militant network kidnapped and murdered Pearl in 2002. The terrorist was affiliated with Al-Qaeda and Jaish-e-Mohammed, an Islamist terrorist group which aims to separate the Kashmir from India and fully incorporate it into Pakistan.
In a declaration on X / Twitter, the father of Daniel Pearl, Judea, clarified the first reports of the death of Azhar and his link with the murder of Daniel.
“I want to clarify: Azhar was a Pakistani extremist and leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist organization. Although his group was not directly involved in the plot to remove Danny, he was indirectly responsible. Azhar orchestrated the Ijacking which led to the release of Omar Sheikh-the man who launched Danny in captivity,” he wrote.
Who was Daniel Pearl, Jewish-American journalist?
Pearl worked as head of the office of South Asia of The Wall Street Journal And was originally parked in New Delhi. He moved to Pakistan to investigate terrorism after the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York.
On January 23, 2002, Pearl was removed by Islamist terrorists in a Karachi restaurant. His kidnappers, who were called the national movement for the restoration of Pakistani sovereignty, accused him of being an Israeli spy and sent a list of requests to the United States if they wanted to be released.
The American government has not responded to requests. In a video, Pearl said he was Jewish and had visited Israel on several occasions, a few moments before his execution.
“My father’s Jew, my mother’s Jew, I am a Jew. My family follows Judaism. Back in the city of Bnei Brak, there is a street named after my great-grandfather, Chaim Pearl, who was one of the founders of the city.” he said in the video.
India launched on Wednesday “the Sindoor operation”, which said “the terrorist infrastructure” targeted. The operation was launched after the Pakistani terrorists killed 26 Hindu tourists in Kashmir last month.
In the BJP’s announcement, the party said that Azhar was involved in a number of terrorist activities, notably the diversion in 1999 of an Indian airline flight, the basic attack of the 2016 Pathankot Air Force and a 2001 terrorist attack on Indian Parliament.
The involvement of Azhar in the diversion of 1999 released Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a member of Al-Qaeda of British origin who had close links in the intelligence agency in Pakistan, the Inter-service Intelligence (ISI).
The Jerusalem post Previously, the operation targeted two main terrorist groups in Pakistan. Lashkar-E-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, whose Azhar was a member.
Pakistan refuted India’s claims and accused Mumbai of having deliberately targeted civilians.
“The reckless action of India has brought the two nuclear weapons closer to a major conflict,” read a release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan.