Saleem Shahzad remembered: Independent inquiry into journalist’s murder sought

Commission being formed for protection from attacks: Presidential spokesperson.

ISLAMABAD:

All fingers at a memorial reference for journalist Saleem Shahzad were pointed towards Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency for his kidnapping and killing.

Participants at the reference, organised by the South Asia Free Media Association (Safma) on Friday, demanded an independent inquiry commission to probe into the case.

Shahzad, the Pakistan bureau chief of Asia Times Online, went missing days after writing an article in which he contended that Al Qaeda attacked the naval base in Karachi after their talks with the navy to release some arrested persons fell through.

He had left his house in Islamabad to participate in a television programme on May 29. But he never reached his destination. Two days later his body and car were found some 150 kilometres from Islamabad.

After receiving a complaint that Interior Minister Rehman Malik did nothing for the welfare of the bereaved family, Safma has announced a special account to accommodate the victims.

Senior journalists including Ashfaq Saleem Mirza, Hamid Mir, Nusrat Javed and Kishwar Naheed spoke on the occasion. Besides journalists, a large number of members of civil society also participated in the reference to commemorate the journalist.

Presidential spokesperson Farhatullah Babar praised Shahzad’s journalistic achievements and told the participants that a summary has been forwarded to the Ministry of Law for the formulation of an inquiry commission to investigate the incident.

He added that following the orders of the president, a special cell for the protection of journalists in the information ministry was being set up, which will help detect such threats in future, he added.

Lt General (Retd) Talat Masood said Shahzad’s murder exposed the three-decade-old mindset of both civilian and state institutions.

“We are not blaming investigation agencies but at the same time we say that if our intelligence agencies are not involved in the murder of Shahzad, then why don’t they fulfil their duty to expose the hidden hands behind the brutal killing of a citizen (Saleem Shahazad),” he said. A traitor is not the person who points out the weaknesses of a country but the person who hides them, he added.

PML-N MNA Ayaz Amir criticised the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release issued after the corps commander meeting on Thursday night.

He said that he was not aware of the term ‘perceptual biased’ used in the press release adding that the new words show ISPR’s frustration.

He said the Abbottabad operation on May 2 changed the public perception of the army. These institutions have the public charmed, but if one engaged them in dialogue, their weaknesses and poor assumptions come through.

Similar assumptions led to the murder of Saleem Shahzad, he added.

The brutal murder of Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer and celebrations over it shows that we are sick nation, he said, adding we are illiterate and self-righteous, a society where the concept of tolerance has no significance.

Ashfaq Saleem Mirza said that South Asian Media Commission Secretary General Najam Sethi, after consultation with various media and civil society organisations, formed a media commission, to monitor increasing attacks on media persons and defend press freedom in Pakistan. The commission will not only defend journalists under attack and pursue their cases but also audit the content of media, besides proposing a code of ethics.







Published in The Express Tribune, June 11th, 2011.