After Operation Sindoor, Judea Pearl questions Pak's mourning of terrorists

New Delhi, May 9 (IANS) India’s Operation Sindoor has struck a decisive blow against the terrorist infrastructure of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in Bahawalpur, Pakistan -- a group long believed to have played a role in one of the darkest episodes in the post-9/11 world: the brutal killing of American journalist Daniel Pearl.

The operation, launched in response to the deadly April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, was reportedly aimed at dismantling Pakistan and PoK-based terror sites, including that of a JeM facility deeply tied to multiple cross-border terror activities.

But for many, this was more than just strategic retaliation. It was a thread in a web woven two decades ago -- one that ties terror attacks, state complicity, and personal grief across generations and borders.

On X, Judea Pearl, father of slain journalist Daniel Pearl, posted a pointed critique, accompanied by a photograph of a funeral procession for the JeM terrorists killed in the Bahawalpur strike. Pakistani Army officers and other Muslim leaders are seen standing in front of coffins.

"I wish these dignitaries could tell us: 'What exactly are you mourning? What role models you wish your children to revere? What have you learned from this man'?" Pearl wrote.

Pearl’s anguish is not abstract. His son, Daniel, began working at The Wall Street Journal in 1990, eventually taking assignments that led him deep into the nexus of terrorism and intelligence in South Asia. In 2002, while investigating links between extremist groups and Pakistan's ISI, he was kidnapped and later beheaded by terrorists linked to JeM.

At the centre of Pearl’s murder was Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a British Pakistani militant with a chilling history. Once jailed in India for kidnapping Western tourists, Sheikh was released in 2000 in exchange for hostages during the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 hijacking. Within two years of his release, he lured Daniel Pearl to his death.

On Friday, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri addressed the press: "Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) was directly or indirectly responsible for the killing of Daniel Pearl."

"The real connection is through Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the British Pakistani jihadi who was held in India but was finally released in 2000. And he was the one who lured Daniel Pearl to his eventual murder. So, these are all connected figures, connected individuals, connected institutions. The attack on Bahawalpur, on that facility of JeM in Bahawalpur, is, I would say, a fitting part of this unfortunate incident,” Misri said.

Operation Sindoor may go down in the books as another effective counter-terror victory, but for the Pearl family, and indeed for much of the world, it resonates on a far deeper level.

As images of the slain JeM operatives’ funerals circulate, the question posed by Judea Pearl hangs heavily in the air: What exactly are you mourning?

--IANS

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