On accusations by the media

Investigations in to the murders of journalists have seldom been completed let alone reached an end to implicate ISI.

On June 17, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) issued a statement where it expressed concern over what it said were “unfounded and baseless insinuations” on the involvement of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in the death of journalist Saleem Shahzad by “some sections of the media”. The statement went on to say that “such negative aspersions and accusations were also voiced against the ISI in some previous cases but investigations proved those wrong”. Given the sensitive nature of Shahzad’s killing and a public denial by the ISI of any involvement in his death, the release of a statement by the ISPR warrants a comment, not least because it comes just as the Supreme Court has taken up the matter. For starters, the media has highlighted the threat that the journalist had received from intelligence agencies on various occasions. In one particular case, following a story that he did in 2010 on Mullah Baradar, the journalist sent an email to Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS) alleging that two officials of the ISI had met with him regarding the said story.The journalist concluded that the meeting constituted an indirect threat to stay away from such reporting. When his body was found, this communication was made public by HRW and the APNS. That the media highlighted this does not amount to “negative aspersions” being cast.

The other aspect relates to the point made that “such negative aspersions and accusations” were also made against the ISI in the past “but investigations proved them wrong”. In the past, accusations were made on the involvement of intelligence agencies when journalist Hayatullah Khan was killed in 2006 after reporting that an al Qaeda terrorist had died as the result of a drone strike and not, as claimed by the government and the military, in an explosion. At that time, fingers were pointed at the agencies because Hayatullah’s reporting had embarrassed the government of Pervez Musharraf. However, no investigation was conducted into the death, and if one was, then its findings were never made public. The same can be said also for the dozens of people who have died in Balochistan over the years or been picked up and held incommunicado for long periods of time. Only the Supreme Court has come to their rescue.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 19th, 2011.