American and Pakistani officials have begun detailed talks on arrangements that could lead to Pakistan's turning over Ahmed Omar Sheikh, to the United States, officials from both countries said on Monday night. A decision could come as early as today, when the American ambassador to Pakistan, Wendy Chamberlin, is to meet President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan for the first time since Pearl was determined last week to have been killed. But they said any deal might be contingent on when Pakistani investigators said they had completed their questioning of Sheikh. The White House is considering invoking an extradition treaty it struck with Britain in 1931. The treaty was later extended to India, then under British colonial rule, and the State Department asserts that, by extension, it covers Pakistan.
The US is digging through antique treaties, and the Paks are probably brain-storming until their turbans burn to try and think up reasons why he couldn't possibly, so sorry, be extradited. This'd be funny, if it wasn't heartbreaking. |