The federal government will be formally joining the review proceedings initiated by the Sindh government against the acquittal of prime suspect Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three co-conspirators in Daniel Pearl murder case, announced a spokesman of the Attorney General Office on Saturday.

The spokesperson shared that the federal government will be filing an application before the Supreme Court (SC) to be allowed to join as a party in the proceedings. The federal government will further seek to review the apex court's Jan 28 judgment, he said and added that the federal government will file an application for the constitution of a larger bench to hear the review appeal.

A three-member bench of the SC headed by Justice Mushir Alam had ordered the immediate release of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three others while hearing a review appeal on Jan 28. In a majority ruling of 2-1, upheld the decision of the Sindh high court and dismissed the appeals. The court in its decision said that the provincial government’s detention orders were illegal and that neither the provincial nor the federal government had to cause to keep Sheikh in custody.

The federal government's decision to join the review appeal came a day after Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi held a telephonic conversation with the newly appointed US State of the Secretary Antony J. Blinken. During the conversation, Blinken expressed concerns of his government over Sheikh's acquittal.

Sheikh, a British-born Pakistani, was convicted of masterminding Pearl’s murder and given the death penalty in 2002. In Jul. 2002, The UK Parliament put forward a motion, signed by 24 members including Labour party chief Jeremy Corbyn, to urges the Pakistani authorities to show clemency to Omar Saeed Sheikh.

In April 2020, after 18 years since an Anti-Terrorism court had sentenced him to death, Sindh's provincial court overturned the verdict and acquitted him and three accomplices of murder charges, ordering their release. The decision was based on the grounds that the initial prosecution’s evidence was insufficient.

However, provincial government authorities kept Sheikh and the others behind the bars, arguing that they may act “against the interest of the country”. The decision was taken under a law allowing authorities to detain high-profile militants for three months.