Bank sued by Pearl widow

A Pakistani bank sued by the widow of an American reporter murdered by Islamic militants has denied any responsibility for the 2002 killing.

Mariane Pearl, the widow of Daniel Pearl, filed a complaint in a US court on Wednesday accusing Habib Bank of knowingly providing financial services to al Qaida and other terrorist groups.

Backed by the bank, terrorists “carried out the kidnapping, ransom, torture, execution and dismemberment of Daniel Pearl and broadcast those images nationwide”, according to the lawsuit.

The suit named an Islamic charity, the al-Rashid Trust, as a defendant, as well as more than a dozen reputed terrorists.

It claimed the trust, which banked with Karachi-based Habib, was a front for al Qaida that “abetted and conspired” in the Pearl slaying.

Zafar Aziz Osmani, a senior executive vice president at Habib Bank, said yesterday it had not yet been informed about the lawsuit, but denied the bank was involved with terrorism.

“The issue is related to 2002, and the bank was until recently in government control, and obviously any government-controlled organisation cannot go for any fishy business,” Osmani said in a telephone interview.

The bank, which is now privately owned, “is doing very clear business and in no way involved in any negative activity”, he said.

Late last year, US regulators announced that the bank had agreed to bolster policies aimed at detecting abuses by terrorist financiers, money launderers and other criminals.

Officials from the al-Rashid Trust, which Pakistan banned earlier this year in an effort to dry up terrorist financing, could not be reached yesterday.

Mariane Pearl said she hoped the suit would compel the defendants to provide more answers about her husband’s death.

“I am looking for the truth of what happened to Daniel, for our family, our friends, and the public record,” she said. “This process allows us to delve deeper into the investigation, and to bring accountability and punishment to those involved with his kidnapping, torture and murder.”

Pearl, the South Asia bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, was abducted in Karachi while researching a story on Islamic militancy.

His remains were later found in a shallow grave in Karachi’s eastern outskirts.

Pakistan has convicted several men in the case.

British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh was sentenced to death in July 2002 and three accomplices were given life prison terms. Their appeals are pending before a Karachi court.