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CNN Sunday Morning

'Silence' Describes Latest Communication With Kidnappers

Aired February 03, 2002 - 09:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Silence, that is the word that best describes communication with the kidnappers of missing American journalist Daniel Pearl. Pearl was abducted January 23rd, while on assignment in Karachi, Pakistan.

A few e-mail messages were sent from the kidnappers earlier in the week, but the flow of e-mails has stopped in the last couple of days. Our Ben Wedeman has been monitoring developments in Karachi. He joins us now with the latest. Hello, Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. Well certainly, silence is the best way to describe this situation at the moment. In fact, it has been four days since a verifiable e-mail has been received from the kidnappers. That was the last time an e-mail was received with a photograph of Mr. Pearl.

Now we've all seen these photographs that were sent via the Internet, one showing him with his hands bound by chains, another with a gun to his head. At this point, Pakistani police are saying they will consider any e-mail that does not include a photograph of Mr. Pearl to be a hoax, and hoaxes have been a serious problem.

Several e-mails were received yesterday by news organizations, claiming that Mr. Pearl is alive, claiming that Mr. Pearl is dead, certainly creating a lot of confusion on the ground. There have been several arrests of individuals who have made crank phone calls, sent hoax e-mails, and that is one of the problems that the FBI is working on as well. The FBI specialty here on the ground is to analyze e- mails, find their sources, and give that information to the Pakistani authorities.

Now, the Pakistani police here in Karachi have been combing the city. Yesterday, they combed more than 200 cemeteries, trying to look for the body, as was claimed by the e-mail that was received night before last that Mr. Pearl's body had been dumped in one of those graveyards.

Fortunately, that search proved fruitless, so hope is still alive, but frustration is growing since it's been so long since anything has been heard from the kidnappers. Miles.

O'BRIEN: I imagine they would certainly like to see a picture of some kind. Have there been any direct requests, either from the Washington Journal or the family for that? WEDEMAN: Yes. In fact Paul Steiger, the Managing Editor of the Wall Street Journal, yesterday did put out a statement in which he requested that. He said if you can not or are not willing to release Daniel Pearl, at least show us a photograph to show us, to prove to us that he's still alive and well.

Mr. Steiger did, however in that statement, say they have no reason to believe that he is not alive, a statement echoed by the Home Secretary of Pakistan yesterday as well. Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Ben Wedeman, thank you very much.

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