| An Islamic militant accused of helping to plan the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was arrested at a bus station in central Pakistan on Thursday, police said. The suspect, Qari Abdul Hai, who allegedly had close ties with the Taliban, is the chief of a banned militant group condemned by the United States as a terrorist organization, police said. The group has been accused of involvement in bombings at public places in Pakistan. Hai was captured in Muzaffargarh, 60 miles west of Multan, as he was about to board a bus for Karachi. Police refused to give more details about Hai's alleged role in Pearl's kidnapping. Four Islamic militants were convicted last year of involvement in the kidnap-slaying of Pearl. One of them, British-born Islamic militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, was sentenced to death, and the three others were given life sentences. All four have filed appeals. Malik said Hai is head of the banned Sunni Muslim Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant group, which was designated a terrorist group by Washington this year. Malik said there was a $35,000 reward for Hai's arrest and that he had been linked to the murders of many Shiite Muslims in different parts of the country in recent years. |