Syed Saleem Shahzad’s only crime was that he wanted to tell the truth to the people of Pakistan.
LAHORE: Pakistan has been declared as being among the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. It ranks 151 out of 178 countries in the press freedom index and 15 journalists have been killed since early 2010. Syed Saleem Shahzad’s only crime was that he wanted to tell the truth to the people of Pakistan — this was part of his professional responsibility.
He was a journalist with personal knowledge of militants. Those who didn’t like his moral courage and were afraid of his existence were after him. He was taught a lesson by these people and what happened to him also took place because it was meant to be a signal to others like him to refrain from telling the truth to the people of Pakistan.
It is the responsibility of the government and intelligence agencies to find out who Shahzad’s killers are and bring them to justice.
ST Hussain
Published in The Express Tribune, June 9th, 2011.
