Musharraf says Pearl 'over inquisitive'

Pearl was killed at the hands of his captors

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's president has said that Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, whose killing at the hands of kidnappers was confirmed last month, had been "over inquisitive" and got "over-involved" in pursuing his story.

Pervez Musharraf's comments came as the president was speaking about whether Pakistan will hand over the chief suspect in Pearl's kidnap-slaying to the United States.

Pearl, South Asia bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped January 23 while researching links between Pakistani extremists and Richard C. Reid, who was arrested in December on a Paris-Miami flight he allegedly boarded with explosives in his sneakers.

The journalist was on his way to what he believed was an interview with Sheikh Mubarik ali Gilani, the head of the fundamentalist Islamic Jamaat ul-Fuqra group.

A videotape received a month later on February 22 by FBI and Pakistani officials in Karachi showed that 38-year-old Pearl had been killed.

The tape showed scenes of Pearl in captivity and scenes of his murder by the kidnappers. His body has not been found.

'Dangers'

Suspect Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh

Speaking on Thursday, Musharraf said the Pearl case shows the dangers facing journalists, although he did not directly refer to the correspondent's pursuit of Reid's alleged links to extremists in Pakistan.

"He was over inquisitive," Musharraf said of Pearl, and "got over involved."

"There is danger in this profession," he said. "We have to be careful."

But Steven Goldstein, a spokesman for the Journal and vice president of Dow Jones & Co., the newspaper's parent company, had earlier said that Pearl was an "extremely cautious reporter" who had turned down assignments he deemed too risky and would never have knowingly placed himself in a dangerous situation to get a story.

The chief suspect in the kidnap-slaying, British-born Islamic militant Ahmed Omar Saaed Sheikh, was arrested last month before the video tape was sent. He is expected to stand trial this month.

Hand over

U.S. officials have expressed interest in prosecuting Saeed, although he has not been indicted in the United States for the Pearl killing.

There is no extradition treaty between the United States and Pakistan but the two governments are said to be looking for legal ways to transfer Saeed to U.S. custody.

"We have our laws. We are investigating. We will see the extradition aspect," Musharraf said at a conference of regional information ministers.

"We will decide later whether he will be tried in Pakistan or handed over to the United States."

On Tuesday, Musharraf's spokesman, Maj. Gen. Rashid Quereshi, said the United States had already been informed that Saeed would be tried here first.

However, Quereshi did not rule out handing Saeed over later.