Pak cedes to US, UN pressure, to join review proceedings

Amid mounting pressure from the US and the UN, the Pakistan government has said it would formally join the review proceedings initiated by the Sindh administration against the Supreme Court's acquittal of British-born al-Qaeda terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and his three aides in the brutal murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl.

Pearl, the 38-year-old South Asia bureau chief for

The Wall Street Journal, was abducted and beheaded while he was in Pakistan investigating a story in 2002 on the links between the country's powerful spy agency ISI and al-Qaeda.

The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the release of main accused Sheikh and his aides - Fahad Naseem, Sheikh Adil and Salman Saqib - by dismissing appeals against their acquittal by the Sindh High Court. The judgement was denounced by Pearl's family as "a complete travesty of justice".