Widow: Unite in fight on terrorism

KARACHI, Pakistan -- The widow of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl appealed to Pakistan's government and its people on Tuesday to find the people who killed her husband and said the world must unite to fight terrorism.

Mariane Pearl, seven months pregnant with the couple's only child, also told reporters she would tell her unborn son that his father died a hero.

"I am certainly convinced he knew that he was in front of people trained to kill him but also to spread terror in the world," Mariane Pearl said in Karachi, where her husband was kidnapped Jan. 23.

"His spirit, his faith and his convictions have not been defeated. And I am extremely proud of him," she said in an interview conducted by the BBC, which was made available to other news organizations as a pool report.

U.S. and Pakistani authorities revealed the contents of a gruesome videotape Friday that confirmed the death of the 38-year-old Pearl.

Police think that a dozen or more people were involved in the abduction and murder and that most of them have spent time in Afghanistan as supporters of the Taliban. Authorities are searching for at least four suspects and for Pearl's body.

"I really . . . want to say to the people of Pakistan and to the law enforcement people to go on and find the people that killed Danny," Mariane Pearl said.

Worldwide, "the people cannot just leave it up to the governments," she said. "People have now to take responsibility."

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