Acquiring Daniel Pearl’s killer is part of the dance of jihadism in Pakistan

It could also undermine Pakistan’s efforts to get off the United Nations “gray list” of countries with inadequate control of terrorist financing.

Mr. Sheikh is an unrepentant jihadist terrorist who lured Mr. Pearl under the pretext of an interview and handed him over to al Qaeda associates. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, boasted of beheading the journalist during a hearing before a military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay.

Mr. Mohammed’s boasting has become a ground for Mr. Sheikh’s appeal in Pakistani courts. But while Mr. Mohammed may have wielded the sword that killed Mr. Pearl, Mr. Sheikh played the key role in the terrorist kidnapping and brutal murder.

Mr Sheikh previously kidnapped three British tourists and an American in Kashmir in 1994 and was arrested in India after being shot and killed by Indian police. He was released from an Indian prison, along with two other terrorists, on December 31, 1999, in exchange for passengers on an Indian plane hijacked to Kandahar, in Afghanistan then controlled by the Taliban.

The modus operandi of the two kidnappings was similar. Mr Sheikh, who had studied at a British private school and the London School of Economics, befriended his victims in order to trap them.

British and American tourists during the 1994 Kashmir kidnapping were found alive by Indian authorities. Mr. Pearl was killed as part of Al Qaeda’s efforts to spread terror in the aftermath of September 11. A US indictment followed, but the Pakistani government promised to prosecute Mr. Sheikh rather than extradite him.

Shortly after his conviction in 2013, Mr. Sheikh said he did not expect to be executed. “This is a decisive war between Islam and the Kafirs,” he said, using an Arabic word for infidels. “And each individually proves which side they are on.” In this, Mr. Sheikh affirmed his belief that the powers that be in Pakistan would eventually side with him, a true believer, rather than non-believers.

The Pakistan Supreme Court ruling appears to justify Mr. Sheikh’s bravado. At first glance, the court appears to have accepted his argument that he played only a “minor role” in Mr. Pearl’s death. But most observers of Pakistan’s complex relations with jihadist groups will see the court’s ruling as part of a model of sympathy for terrorists.

I noted this trend in these pages as early as January 2003, shortly after Mr. Sheikh’s initial arrest for the murder of Mr. Pearl. “If they want to keep someone in jail,” I argued, “the Pakistani government generally has little difficulty finding a way to do it.”

Over the years, Pakistan has been praised by an American President, George W. Bush, for his help in the fight against terrorism, before being criticized by all for its duplicity and functioning as a revolving door for terrorists. . US analysts have accused Pakistan’s support for the Taliban of prolonging US military involvement in Afghanistan.

Many Americans have not forgotten that Osama bin Laden was found and killed by US special forces in the garrison town of Abbottabad in northwest Pakistan. The United States chose not to take its suspected allies, the Pakistanis, in confidence and led the operation to eliminate bin Laden behind its back.

While Pakistan has cooperated with the United States against Al Qaeda and other international terrorist groups, it has hesitated to act against regional terrorist groups in Afghanistan and India. After his resignation, former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf admitted his support for the Taliban was part of a proxy conflict with India.

Pakistan’s current military leader, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, has struggled to cope with the stigma of his country’s mixed record on terrorism. Although Pakistan has the attributes of a procedural democracy, the civilian government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan relies on General Bajwa on any military strategy.

General Bajwa spoke of the need to transform Pakistan into a “normal country” and assured world leaders that he plans to help the county shed its jihadist-friendly image. He ordered the armed forces to meet the requirements set by the United Nations Financial Action Task Force to combat terrorist financing. During his tenure, first instance courts convicted Pakistani masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks for terrorist financing.

After years of denying what was known to much of the world, Pakistani leaders now recognize that their country’s relationship to terrorism has been somewhat complicated. But Mr. Khan, who has at times praised terrorists and said bin Laden was “martyred,” keeps the national discourse mired in jihadist ideology, as do Islamist politicians, judges and journalists. Even staunch Western skeptics of the Pakistani military and intelligence services would applaud if General Bajwa succeeded in turning away from the policies of his predecessors. But the Supreme Court ruling in Mr Sheikh’s case suggests Pakistan has a long way to go to overcome jihadism.

Mr. Haqqani is Director for South and Central Asia at the Hudson Institute. He was Pakistani Ambassador to the United States, 2008-11.