I made a friend in Pakistan. I nicknamed him "Captain"...Captain's only aim was to save Danny, because I was there, because I was pregnant, because Danny was innocent, because Captain was a Muslim and a patriot who felt deeply ashamed by those who kept him in captivity. When it was learned that Danny was dead, it was Captain who had to tell me. Because he said so, I knew it was true, the same way I knew what he said next to be true. It was another pledge: "I will pursue those who did this and bring them to justice, even if it is going to take a lifetime. My lifetime."
I only wish others who promised their resolve at that time - including Danny's employers at the Wall Street Journal - had kept their word, too.
We wanted to know why the Journal had not sent anyone to court to represent Danny as the Pakistani authorities began prosecutions for his kidnapping and murder. One of those on trial included Omar Said Sheikh, who had confessed to masterminding the operation. It was Omar who had lured Danny into a trap, pretending he was the disciple of a source Danny was trying to interview. Ever since I had left Pakistan the year before I had been trying to persuade the Journal to send someone. "We were advised not to send a white American to a Pakistani court," Journal chiefs told us.
Not only had the paper not sent a white American, it had sent no one. The trial was held in a tiny, windowless "court" in the prison where the men were being held. Transparency sounded like wishful thinking. I had ended up paying a Pakistani lawyer a very large sum to represent Danny, and the Journal eventually reimbursed me a small fraction of his fees...a lawyer for Dow Jones (the parent company of the Wall Street Journal) levelled with me...."It is your case, not ours," the lawyer eventually told me. I hung up....
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=492014