A Pakistani security agency has launched a special wing to combat cyber crimes in part because the country had to rely on U.S. investigators to trace e-mails sent by the kidnappers of American journalist Daniel Pearl a year ago. "The purpose of establishing the National Response Center for Cyber Crimes is to stop misuse of the Internet and trace those involved in cyber-related crimes," Iftikhar Ahmad, spokesman for Pakistan's Interior Ministry, told the Associated Press on Wednesday. . . .
A Pakistani security agency has launched a special wing to combat cyber crimes in part because the country had to rely on U.S. investigators to trace e-mails sent by the kidnappers of American journalist Daniel Pearl a year ago. "The purpose of establishing the National Response Center for Cyber Crimes is to stop misuse of the Internet and trace those involved in cyber-related crimes," Iftikhar Ahmad, spokesman for Pakistan's Interior Ministry, told the Associated Press on Wednesday.

"The importance of this special wing was felt when Daniel Pearl was kidnapped, and his captors started sending e-mails to newspapers," he said.

The Wall Street Journal correspondent disappeared on Jan. 23, 2002, from Pakistan's southern city of Karachi.

On Jan. 27, 2002, the Journal and other media received an e-mail from a group calling itself the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty. The e-mail contained a photo of Pearl, 38, with a gun to his head.

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