| It is a widely known historical fact that Pakistan's founding father, Jinnah, even mocked the plausibility of the idea prior to his decision to lead the Pakistani movement. |
| Since its birth, Pakistan's ruling elite (dictators and democrats alike) has defined the country as India's global rival. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism, however, has altered that conception completely. |
| In the current century, Pakistan is known as a safe haven for Islamic fundamentalists, and it is here in this country that journalist Daniel Pearl was killed. How that painful death took place constitutes the central theme of this book. |
| The book sketches a portrait of a complex network of individuals and institutions on which Islamic fundamentalism thrives in Pakistan and elsewhere in the world. |
| After grasping the vivid narrative comprising the pre-jihadi and jihadi phases of Omar Shaikh's life, one would find it hard to believe that East and West could ever co-exist peacefully, much less synthesise their values. |
| Levi tells the story of the gruesome murder of Daniel Pearl with the unparalleled insight of an accomplished writer who has deeply studied politics and human suffering. |
| On first reading, the rich text might sound like world-class crime fiction, written with the literary flair and detail of Alfred Hitchcock. |
| Levi travelled the world, tracing Omar Shaikh's footsteps. He interviewed almost every person of import in his life: his family, his schoolmates, his buddies in the Three Tuns Pub in London, and even key intelligence officials of India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) who dealt with him during his involvement in the hijacking of an Indian plane. |
| In these interviews, Levi makes a strong case for the disturbing fact that modern education and Western society in general failed to instil a pro-Western attitude in Shaikh. |
| Instead, he said, it generated an incentive for quite the opposite, that is, the pathological hatred for the West that Omar pursued with zeal and disastrous consequences for himself and as well for Pearl. |
| After reading this book, no one should believe that anti-Western attitudes or their more comprehensive manifestations such as Islamic fundamentalism, flourish only among illiterate youths, who fall prey to the devilish designs of Islamic fundamentalists. |
| Shaikh is evidence that such ideology can grow under any conditions, in any human being "" even a well-bred young Muslim from London might choose to become a jihadi rather than a perfect Englishman. This is a complex story of how political views and identities are formed. |
| Despite his Western life and education, Omar defined the meaning of his life as a Muslim and never failed to blame the West for its humiliation of the Islamic world. Films and documentaries on Bosnia solidified his hatred and strengthened his resolve to fight the West. |
| It will be wrong to argue that the modern West and Islam are naturally incompatible. Furthermore, by recalling the story of his interaction with ordinary Muslims, Levi has shown a gentler face of Islam too. |
| If you are an aspiring investigative reporter, this book should be your lifetime companion; if you are a crime reporter, it should be your Bible; if you are a person for whom enduring friendship matters, then this is a great testimony to that virtue; if you are an ideologue, then you will understand how challenging the current global realities are and how complex human nature can be; if you are a student of political Islam, then you will learn a few things that no other book could teach. All in all, this is a fabulous book that any reader seeking to play his part for a better world will find invaluable. |
| WHO KILLED DANIEL PEARL? |
| Bernard-Henri Levi Melville House Publishing House Pages: 454 |
Top Section
Explore Business Standard