The wife of kidnapped US journalist Mr Daniel Pearl said today she remained confident her husband would be freed, despite a threat by his captors to kill him within 24 hours.
The death threat from a little known militant group in Pakistan was contained in an e-mail sent to several newspapers late last night, a week after the Wall Street Journalcorrespondent was abducted.
Mrs Marianne Pearl said she held out hope that the kidnappers would take account of her husband's "professional honesty and wish for dialogue".
That was the "essential point" of the message she wanted to get across to the kidnappers, she said. "But I don't know anything exactly, and it is very difficult to do anything now, I can't do anything in 24 hours.
"We are independent journalists. For several years all our work has been to seek dialogue between people, to be honest with them, she said. "I think that my husband's kidnappers will hear me and release Danny. I am confident".
There has been no sign of Mr Pearl since he disappeared in the southern port city of Karachi eight days ago, saying he was going to interview Muslim militan leader Mubarak Ali Shah Gilani.
Mr Gilani, a leader of a little known militant Muslim group Tanzeem-ul-Fuqra based in the eastern city of Lahore, was arrested in Islamabad last night and has denied all knowledge of the kidnapping.
AFP