Acquittals in Daniel Pearl murder will be challenged in top court, FM Qureshi assures US.

ISLAMABAD -- Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday said that the Untied States government's apprehensions on the Sindh High Court's decision to acquit four people earlier convicted in the kidnapping and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl were only "natural", adding that the decision will be challenged in the apex court.

The SHC had on Thursday acquitted the four, including prime suspect Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was sentenced to death in 2002 for masterminding Pearl's murder. The other three had been sentenced to life.

However hours after the verdict, the Sindh Home Department issued an order late Thursday night to arrest and detain the four before they were released from prison, citing sufficient reason to believe that these men may act 'against the interest of the country'.

Yesterday's verdict however did not sit well with the United States, with the State Department condemning the overturning of the convictions and terming the decision 'an affront to victims of terrorism everywhere'.

'Those responsible for Daniel's heinous kidnapping and murder must face...