Dear President Bush,
As you embark on your courageous visit to Pakistan, the adopted homeland of Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mullah Mohammed Omar and other brutal killers of hundreds of your fellow citizens, may I request you to spare a thought for your fellow citizens and for the nationals of other countries who continue to die at the hands of international jihadi terrorists given sanctuary in Pakistan?
May I, in particular, request you to spare a thought for a young American man called Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and brutally beheaded a little over four years ago at Karachi, from where Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, at the instance of bin Laden, planned and orchestrated the 9/11 terrorist strikes on America?
What was Pearl's 'crime'? The jihadi terrorists held him 'guilty' on three counts: He was American, he was Jewish, and he was a journalist working for The Wall Street Journal.
You and other American leaders often reiterate that no terrorist who kills a fellow American will go unpunished. Well, Mr President, Omar Sheikh, the man who orchestrated the kidnapping and murder of Pearl, has just completed four years of comfortable life in a so-called prison in Hyderabad in the Sindh province of Pakistan.
General Pervez Musharraf -- your buddy, as you are fond of calling him -- has seen to it that Omar Sheikh does not go to the gallows despite an anti-terrorism court having sentenced him to death three years ago.
From the so-called jail in Hyderabad, where he is provided with all the comforts and facilities he asks for --- computers, Internet connections, fax machines, etcetera --- Sheikh continues to mastermind acts of jihadi terrorism, violent attacks, and anti-US demonstrations in Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries.
Meet the most hated man in Pakistan
Sheikh orchestrated the anti-US demonstrations in Pakistan and Afghanistan over the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran by the security guards at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba last year.
Sheikh's lawyers used to hold press conferences at which statements on the Holy Quran desecration allegations -- issued by the murderer of Daniel Pearl himself -- were distributed.
Sheikh inspired the three British nationals of Pakistani origin who carried out the London explosions of July 7 last year.
Sheikh orchestrated and continues to orchestrate demonstrations in Pakistan -- and earlier in Afghanistan -- over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in some European newspapers.
Mr President, you remember the two attempts to kill your buddy in December 2003 at Rawalpindi? Well, your buddy has ensured the guilty in those incidents were tried, appeals against their conviction disposed of, and sent to the gallows.
For your buddy, the law did not pose any difficulty in sending them to death for trying to kill him.
The same law, according to your buddy, has been standing in the way of the killers of Daniel Pearl being sent to the gallows.
Do you know how many times the hearing in Sheikh's appeal against the conviction has been adjourned by the appellate court? It was adjourned for the 41st time right on the eve of your visit to Pakistan.
On Sunday, February 26, the Sindh high court adjourned the hearing once again on the ground that Sheikh has sacked his defence lawyer and that the killer must be given time to find and engage another lawyer.
'The law is equal for everyone in Pakistan'
Mr President, you must be aware of the old saying that a man is known by the company he keeps. What a buddy you have, Mr President, in General Musharraf!
Your buddy does not have any powers to send the killers of Daniel Pearl to the gallows, but he had all the powers in the world to dismiss his own elected prime minister, arrest him and have him convicted on the charge of hijacking under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Your buddy helped bin Laden, Zawahiri and their jihadi hordes to escape from Tora Bora in Afghanistan into Pakistan and is not taking any action to kill or capture Laden.
Your buddy is afraid that if bin Laden is eliminated, his own importance in your eyes could diminish.
Your buddy gave sanctuary to Mullah Mohammad Omar and his Taliban hordes in Pakistan from where they are staging a spectacular comeback in Afghanistan.
Exclusive: 'The Taliban have returned'
Your buddy has closed his eyes to the international jihadi terrorists setting up a 'liberated' zone in his Waziristan region.
Do you know what bin Laden is today? He is the Amir of the International Islamic Caliphate with the provisional capital in Waziristan.
Your buddy has covered up his own involvement in the supply of military nuclear material by A Q Khan to Libya, Iran and North Korea. And your buddy has protected the scientist by repeatedly refusing to hand him over to the International Atomic Energy Agency for interrogation by independent investigators.
Your buddy's buddy bin Laden has recently issued a message warning of another 9/11 in your homeland. Where is it being planned from? Your buddy's homeland!
What a buddy you have, Mr President! What a buddy!
With very warm regards, Sir,
Yours sincerely,
B Raman
Also see
The Bush Visit