A government commission investigating the murder of a Pakistani journalist last year, which some media organisations and human rights groups blamed on the country’s most powerful intelligence agency, has said it failed to identify the culprits.
Syed Saleem Shahzad, who worked for Hong Kong-based Asia Times and Italian news agency Adnkronos International, went missing from the capital Islamabad on May 29 last year.
His body, bearing torture marks, was found two days later dumped beside a canal.
“The commission has been unable to identify the culprits behind this incident,” it said in a report made public on Friday.
That conclusion is likely to reinforce suspicions that Pakistan’s intelligence services act with impunity against journalists or whoever they consider an enemy of the state, such as Taliban militants or Baluch separatists.
Before his death, Shahzad had been investigating alleged ties between the military’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)agency and militant groups.
He had also reported that an attack on a Pakistani naval base last year was carried out by al Qaeda after talks failed to secure the release of two navy officials accused of links with militant groups.
The commission said anyone involved in the war on militancy could have been behind Shahzad’s killing.
“Saleem’s writings probably did, and certainly could have, drawn the ire of all the various belligerents in the War on Terror – the Pakistani state, the non-state actors such as the Taliban and al Qaeda, and foreign actors,” it said.
Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, expressed disappointment with the findings.
“They did not fully reflect information that we think they received and could have been more specific about the institutions responsible,” he told Reuters.
“This commission was created because of allegations of ISI involvement and they’ve made no progress on that.”
The ISI rejected allegations it was involved in Shahzad’s murder. The agency also denies accusations it violates human rights.
Aside from raising questions about alleged human rights abuses in Pakistan, Shahzad’s death highlighted dangers faced by journalists in the South Asian country, a U.S. ally.
Ten journalists were killed in Pakistan in 2011, most of them murdered, according to Reporters Without Borders, making it the most dangerous country in the world for news coverage for the second year running.
“It’s just going to make journalists very afraid to investigate government and military officials in particular,” he said.
The commission urged the government to provide compensation to Shahzad’s family, and said his murder contributed to a “climate of fear” in Pakistan.
Shahzad’s murder provoked rare criticism of the military in Pakistan, where an outspoken media that has mushroomed in recent years often attacks the government but is careful when it comes to the country’s powerful generals.
https://www.reuters.com/article/pakistan-journalist-report-idUSL3E8CD3QN20120113
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