Pakistan’s Sindh province government has decided not to release British-born al Qaida leader Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and his three aides, accused of kidnapping and murdering US journalist Daniel Pearl, in view of a Supreme Court order, according to a media report.

A two-judge bench of Sindh High Court had on Thursday directed security agencies not to keep Sheikh and the other accused under “any sort of detention” and declared all notifications of the Sindh government related to their detention “null and void”.

The court, however, had clarified that the accused should not be released if there is a Supreme Court restraining order regarding their detention.

Citing its sources, the Express Tribune newspaper said the provincial government would not release Sheikh and the others in view of the Supreme Court’s September 28 order.

The Pakistan People’s Party-led Sindh government believes that the apex court’s September 28 order in the case is still in the field, the sources told the daily.

A three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Mushir Alam, which is hearing the appeal by the Sindh government and the family of the slain journalist against the acquittal of Sheikh by Sindh High Court in April, on September 28 noted that till the next date of hearing, the accused shall not be released.
A senior government official said the apex court order had not been specifically recalled.

On Friday, the US expressed “deep concern” over the order to release Sheikh and his aides and said it would continue to monitor any developments in the case.