The conviction of Ahmed Omar Sheikh for the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl reminds me of an interview I conducted in Karachi in May with the police investigator who led the manhunt for Sheikh. As the police closed in, the investigator obtained Sheikh’s cellphone number and called him up. It was early February, and what followed, as recounted by the investigator, was one of the odder moments in the probe—the hunter talking with the hunted.
“Sheikh, your game is over,” the investigator said. “Where is Daniel Pearl?”
“Who are you?” Sheikh asked.
The investigator identified himself (as a condition of my interview with the investigator, he asked that I not publish his name).
“Don’t cause any harm to him, and surrender,” the investigator warned. “Otherwise you will pay the consequences. We know that you are the one who kidnapped him. There is no option for you but to surrender.”
Sheikh did not say yes or no; he responded with brief, noncommittal words. The investigator passed the phone to one of Sheikh’s captured accomplices, who confirmed that the police were, indeed, on his trail. The phone call ended. Sheikh surrendered a few days later. Pearl, it turned out, had been killed before the investigator’s phone call.
