NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Pakistan, which is weighing its options on the US request for extradition of Sheikh Omar Saeed, the self confessed abductor of US journalist Daniel Pearl, has asked the Bush administration to permit a senior FBI official involved in the probe to testify as a witness.
Pakistan's foreign office has made a formal request to the US state department to allow special FBI agent Roland J Wilczynski to appear as a witness in a Pakistani court, where Sheikh was being tried along with three others.
The US, however, has not yet responded to the request, Pakistan daily The Nation said on Tuesday.
Though initially reluctant, the US is likely to relent since Pakistani prosecutors believe that Wilczynski's appearance would strengthen the case against the suspects, it said.
The reports was confirmed by interior ministry spokesman Brig Javed Iqbal Cheema, it said adding, Islamabad might ask for the appearance of more than one FBI agent.
An unspecified number of FBI agents were actively involved in the investigation into Pearl's abduction along with the Pakistani police.
Wilczynski is believed to be a cyber crime expert who had helped Pakistani investigators track down three suspects who had sent e-mails following Pearl's abduction.
Authorities of the two countries have also examined the possibility of extraditing Sheikh Omar, a British national, to the US, it said and quoted an official as saying that all arrangements have been finalised to whisk him away on a few hours notice.
"We are just waiting for the final approval," the officials told the paper.
The newspaper said the Pakistan embassy in Washington was in contact with Islamabad for finalising the legal and logistical details of Omar's extradition.
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