OK, now this doesn't make sense, unless...

Last Christmas, Pakistan's President Musharraf survived a near fatal assassination attempt. I blogged about it, drawing connections to the fact that elements of Pakistan's own military had to be involved with the assassination attempt on their own president, and I theorized that al-Qa'ida had some influence in this since many members to Pakistan's military support them and the Taliban. This is scary, of course, because it questions the stability of a government that could start a nuclear war.

Today, via Antiwar.com, I've read two articles covering the killing of Amjad Farooqi. The first, in The Australian, says Pakistan scored a major victory against al-Qa'ida by killing Farooqi, the lead suspect in the assassination attempt against Musharraf and, "had been running al-Qa'ida operations in Pakistan."

But an article from a favorite resource of mine, Asia Times, tells a very different story.

Pakistan's establishment recently labeled Amjad Farooqi as al-Qaeda's mastermind in the country. However, Asia Times Online contacts vigorously dispute this claim ... and they suspect that Farooqi has already been arrested in Karachi and that he will be "presented" at a later date.
- Twin hot spots near boiling point, Asia Times Online, Jun 5

KARACHI - Even as President General Pervez Musharraf played to the international gallery on his trip to the United Nations and beyond, at home, Pakistan was cooking up another treat to be served on the tour...

Pakistan's establishment recently labeled Farooqi al-Qaeda's mastermind in the country. However, Asia Times Online contacts say that, certainly, Amjad was wanted in connection with the murder of Pearl in Karachi in 2002. The contacts claim, though, that Amjad was in fact a "stand-alone" operator who did not draw support from any one organization as he was able to gather his own manpower and financial resources. Senior intelligence officers told Asia Times Online that while Farooqi was a stand-alone operator, he carried out specific operations in conjunction with local and foreign elements...

After Riaz Basra, Farooqi is the second high-profile wanted person to have died with his secrets, especially in relation to the murder of Pearl, in which he is said to have been involved directly. Pearl had became deeply involved in investigations into the arrest of Abu Zobaida, a chief al-Qaeda operator, in Faisalabad. He was in the process of making a connection between Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence-backed groups and the seminaries of Faisalabad when he was abducted and murdered. Farooqi, incidentally, comes from the same area...

Farooqi, according to security sources who spoke to Asia Times Online, had worked hand-in-glove with army officials in the attack on Musharraf's motorcade in Rawalpindi last year. Had he stood for trial, some interesting information might have been released. An expert on jihadi groups, Mohammed Tahir, editor of a local weekly, maintains that Farooqi's death is meant to close the files on the conspiracy to kill Musharraf, as well as the Pearl case.

If this Asia Times report is to be believed, then Pakistan had in their custody a man who killed a Wall Street Journal reporter who was about to, I assume, uncover some corruption within Pakistan's formidable intelligence agency, the ISI. Farooqi also tried assassinating President Musharraf with the help of at least one person in Pakistan's military. But he's not connected to al-Qa'ida, but the group still can't be discounted since Farooqi "carried out specific operations in conjunction with local and foreign elements." And even though he could have been put on trial and, maybe, forced to talk, he was killed. One would figure that whatever Farooqi has to say is important, right?

Hmmmmm. I wonder if the ISI has something to hide. Or maybe Musharraf himself...