| Comes as a surprise, huh? |
 Pakistani investigators have found a definite and irrevocable link between a Muslim charity and one of the four suspects believed to be involved in the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in February 2002. A 'Trust Deed', retrieved from at least two banks where Al-Akhtar Trust International outlawed by the American Treasury Department in 2003 for having links with Taliban and Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network has it accounts, shows that Saud Memon is one of the eleven trustees of the trust, highly placed sources told Daily Times on Monday.
The sources said the name of Saud Memon, who owns the shed where Pearl's remains were found, appeared at number nine (9) on the list of the 11-member Board of Trustees. Saud Memon, an industrialist, had been named by several arrested members of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Al-Almi as their chief financial backer.
| Quite a coincidence, huh? But I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation... |
The sources said said that, besides Saud Memon (son of Mohammad Siddiq Ismail), the names of Moulana Mohammad Mazhar, Moulana Mohammad Ibrahim, Kamran Chapra, Mufti Abdul Rehman Rehmani, Hafiz Mohammad Ismail, Moulana Abdul Rehman, Moulana Abdul Rehman Memon, Afaq-ur-Rehman Khan, Khalil-ur-Rehman and Froz Abdullah appeared in the 'Trust Deed' registered with the Registrar T-Division Karachi on April 16, 2000.
| That's a whole passel of holy men... |
Several police officers, who have been involved in the investigations into the murder of Daniel Pearl, believed that Saud Memon was the man who had driven three Arabs to his estate in North Karachi, where Pearl had been held till the day of his slaying. Shortly after Pearl's murder, the police sealed Saud Memon's home in Karachi, where he also ran his garment business. Saud Memon remains one of the key figures still at large in the Pearl slaying case.
| Flew the coop, did he? So, just where in Soddy Arabia do they think he is? |
His photo along with those of other alleged conspirators have been published throughout Pakistan and a reward has been offered for information leading to their arrest. According to the CID Red Book updated in December 2004, Saud Memon was responsible for receiving funds from Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network and distributing them among almost all jihadi outfits operating in Pakistan. The investigators still working on the Pearl murder case believed that Saud had fled the country. |