Operation Sindoor delivers justice for Daniel Pearl, WSJ reporter killed in Pakistan in 2002

Indian-American journalist Asra Nomani has linked India’s Operation Sindoor airstrikes to long-standing calls for justice in the Daniel Pearl case, underlining the symbolic significance of Bahawalpur in global terrorism networks.

As India launched Operation Sindoor on 7 May 2025, targeting terrorist infrastructure deep inside Pakistan in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, one of the cities hit—Bahawalpur—resurfaced grim memories for veteran journalist Asra Nomani.

Nomani, a former colleague and friend of slain Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter Daniel Pearl, took to social media platform X to recount the chilling chain of events that led to his murder in 2002. Her poignant post underscored that Bahawalpur was not just a city, but a hub for terror networks long shielded by the Pakistani state.

“‘Bahawalpur.’ I still have chills in my heart from when I first heard that town’s name in late January 2002,**” wrote Nomani, pointing out that Pearl had travelled there while investigating links between Pakistani intelligence and militant groups. She revealed that Pearl had interviewed known members of terror outfits like Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and JeM before being abducted and eventually murdered.

Nomani emphasised that one of Pearl’s abductors, Arif—who lured him under false pretences—was from Bahawalpur, where the police later searched for him. Pearl was eventually handed over to Omar Saeed Sheikh, the same militant who was released by India in 1999 during the IC-814 hijacking in exchange for hostages, alongside JeM chief Masood Azhar. India’s airstrike reportedly killed Azhar’s brother Abdul Rauf Azhar this week.

The Bahawalpur facility destroyed in Operation Sindoor was reportedly a JeM stronghold, the same group implicated in Pearl’s abduction and several major terror attacks in India, including the 2001 Parliament attack and the 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing.

Nomani, reflecting on the symbolism, wrote:

“What India is doing is a strategic attack on terrorist bases Pakistani military and intelligence should have eliminated but never did in their obsession to take over Kashmir.”

She also drew parallels between Pakistan-based terrorism and other extremist ideologies worldwide, calling out moral inversion tactics often used to portray aggressors as victims.

Operation Sindoor, named after the vermilion powder symbolising marital commitment in India, is now being seen by some as not only a response to domestic terror but also a long-delayed moment of justice in the international fight against extremism.

The strike in Bahawalpur, for many including Nomani, signifies the closing of a dark chapter that began with Pearl’s brutal death—and a reminder of the price journalists pay in pursuit of truth.