dagblog - Comments for "Journalist Investigating ISI Links to al Qaeda-Dead in Pak."

VIEW: The underbelly of

artappraiser — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 03:24:09 +0000

In reply to Journalist Investigating ISI Links to al Qaeda-Dead in Pak.

VIEW: The underbelly of terrorism that sucked in Shahzad
By Gul Bukari, Daily Times (Pakistan,) June 2, 2011

Today, we find our population largely uneducated, without healthcare, without security — is that not ironic, without electricity, without industry, without anything but the grass Z A Bhutto promised

“I must give you a favour. We have recently arrested a terrorist and have recovered a lot of data, dairies and other material during the interrogation. The terrorist had a hit list with him. If I find your name in the list, I will certainly let you know.”

Reportedly, these were the words of DG Media Wing ISI, Rear Admiral Adnan Nazir, quoted by Syed Saleem Shahzad, Pakistan bureau chief Asia Times Online, in his e-mail to Human Rights Watch on October 17, 2010.

These chilling sentences were said to him at the end of his meeting with the DG and the deputy DG Media Wing ISI, Commodore Khalid Pervaiz, after his refusal to divulge his sources for the story (‘Pakistan frees Taliban commander’, Asia Times Online, October 16, 2010) he did on Mullah Baradar’s release by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, essentially for reasons of, yes, ‘strategic depth’. The rear admiral had asked him to retract the story, as it was a cause of embarrassment for Pakistan (no, not because the story was not true, but because it was true), which Shahzad refused to do.

The fearless Shahzad carried on his excellent investigative stories on the underbelly of terrorism. You read that correctly — the underbelly of terrorism in the AfPak region. His latest story...

Journalist’s murder meant to muzzle media, says HRCP
Staff Report, Daily Times (Pakistan,) June 2, 2011

LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed grief and indignation at the brutal murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad, calling it a vile attempt to muzzle the media....

A statement by HRCP Chairperson Zohra Yusuf issued on Wednesday read: “HRCP is grieved by the callous murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad and alarmed at this depraved attempt to silence the media. The identity of the perpetrators may only be established through a transparent probe, but the timing and manner of his abduction make it abundantly clear that Shahzad was targeted because of his work as a journalist. The quick disposal of his body and burial strengthens doubts of the involvement of state actors.”

She said that the messages that his killers had tried to drive home were as chilling as they were unmistakable. First, that they can go to any length to target anyone who dares speak up, and second, that they have little fear of being caught or punished. The fear and the consequent self-censorship and the impunity the killing induces for the journalists and those who seek to silence them, respectively, are not hard to imagine in the circumstances. Pakistan has long been an acutely unsafe environment for journalists, with the highest number of journalists killed in any country in 2010. Almost all of these cases remain un-prosecuted and unpunished.

The HRCP chairperson said that the risks for the journalists are extenuated when they fear harm from agents of the state itself, as has been alleged in Shahzad’s case. For the state to retain its state of denial in the face of such stark threats and violence against journalists is a scandal of the highest order and amounts to complicity. The government’s action in the next few days would determine how serious it is in its claims of doing everything to ensure freedom of the media. Impunity for Shahzad’s murderers is a virtual death warrant for any journalist who crosses anyone....

Journalists rally to condemn Saleem Shahzad’s killing
By Hussain Kashif, Daily Times (Pakistan,) June 2, 2011

LAHORE: Journalists on Wednesday held a protest rally outside the Lahore Press Club (LPC) and shouted slogans against kidnapping, torturing and brutal killing of a colleague and senior journalist Saleem Shahzad demanding arrest of the killers....

Talking to Daily Times, LPC Executive Member Muzamal Hussain Gujjar vowed that the killing of Saleem Shahzad would not silence the journalists. He said that voices of the people, especially journalists, cannot be hushed down since all the journalist community is united against such killings.

Senior journalist Anjum Rasheed said that the establishment was trying to gag the voice of journalists and this incident was a clear reflective of it, however, the journalists would continue speaking the truth. He said that the killing of a prominent journalist like Saleem Shehzad was a message to all journalists that they should stop speaking the truth or face the consequences....

Pakistani Spy Agency Denies

artappraiser — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 03:01:39 +0000

In reply to Journalist Investigating ISI Links to al Qaeda-Dead in Pak.

Pakistani Spy Agency Denies Role in Journalist’s Killing
By Carlotta Gall, New York Times, June 1/2, 2011

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, said allegations that its operatives were behind the abduction and killing of the journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad were baseless, and vowed Wednesday to help bring the perpetrators to justice.

An ISI official denied that the agency had made any threats to the journalist and described his death as “unfortunate and tragic” and a “source of concern for the entire nation.” The intelligence official was unnamed in accordance with the nature of his job and made the comments to the government news agency, the Associated Press of Pakistan....

New York Times Editorial:Syed

artappraiser — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 02:56:21 +0000

In reply to Journalist Investigating ISI Links to al Qaeda-Dead in Pak.

New York Times Editorial:

Syed Saleem Shahzad’s Courage
June 1/2, 2011

Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad knew he was a marked man. Mr. Shahzad, who covered national security and terrorism, had received repeated threats from Pakistan’s powerful spy agency. Yet he courageously kept doing his job — until somebody silenced him. His body, his face horribly beaten, was buried on Wednesday.

Suspicion inevitably falls on Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan’s chief intelligence agency. For the sake of justice, and the shredded credibility of Pakistan’s government, his murderers must be found quickly and held accountable....

For at least 6-7 years, I

artappraiser — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 02:36:33 +0000

In reply to Journalist Investigating ISI Links to al Qaeda-Dead in Pak.

For at least 6-7 years, I think, I made it a point to check Asia Times regularly, mainly to see if Shazad had published something there; I looked for his byline first.. And I re-posted many, many of his articles on various forums that I have participated in over the years, precisely because they had clarifying information that no one else had.

He had incredible contacts and inside info. in his area, from Washington D.C. to Waziristan to Karachi to Kabul, like no other reporter. Though he sometimes got it wrong, I always thought he used those contacts very skeptically and very wisely, perhaps more so than others who used contacts similarly--Seymour Hersh comes to mind.

Sigh, so I went to see what Asia Times has on him now. Here's the top of their front page:

:Pakistan: Silencing the truth-seekers

The kidnapping and murder of Syed Saleem Shahzad, the bureau chief for Asia Times Online in Pakistan, only days after he had exposed a link between al-Qaeda and servicemen is a tragic reminder that the nation is "the world’s most dangerous country for journalists". Saleem's journey took him from the back streets of Karachi to the badlands of the AfPak border in the search of truth, and he paid the ultimate price.
- Karamatullah K Ghori (Jun 1, '11)

EDITORIAL
Justice, not words
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has made all the right noises over the death of Syed Saleem Shahzad. This means nothing unless the killers are brought to justice. (Jun 1, '11)

Target: Saleem
When a Pakistani journalist - not a foreigner - writes that al-Qaeda is infiltrated deep inside the military establishment, the mission's on. You abduct, torture and snuff him. Assassination, low-tech, is how they finally got Saleem. And "they" had to be the Inter-Services Intelligence - as he knew, and told us, all along.
- Pepe Escobar (Jun 1, '11)

Why is he not alive?
Eleven days before his untimely death, Syed Saleem Shahzad's new book was released: Inside Al-Qaeda and the Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11. He was a journalist in the truest sense. He presented fact based on research, without his own opinion. Why then is he not alive?
- Susan Marie (Jun 1, '11)

Tributes to Saleem

Pakistani journalist was

artappraiser — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 02:35:42 +0000

In reply to Journalist Investigating ISI Links to al Qaeda-Dead in Pak.

Pakistani journalist was tortured to death: police
AFP, June 1, 2011

KARACHI: Grief-stricken relatives demanded Wednesday that Pakistan investigate the torture and murder of an investigative journalist whose disappearance was blamed on the country’s shadowy intelligence services.

Saleem Shahzad, a 40-year-old father of three, vanished after leaving home in Islamabad to appear on a television talk show, two days after writing an article about links between rogue elements of the navy and al Qaeda....

Shahzad’s body was found Tuesday, about 150 kilometres southeast of Islamabad. Police said it bore marks of torture.

“The cause of death is torture and there are several signs of torture on his body and face,” said Ashok Kumar, one of the doctors who carried out a post-mortem at Islamabad’s Pakistan Institute of Medical Science.

Another doctor told AFP that Shahzad’s lungs and liver had been damaged, that the body was swollen and bore more than 15 signs of having been beaten.....

ISI scripted Mumbai attack,

artappraiser — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 02:17:57 +0000

In reply to Journalist Investigating ISI Links to al Qaeda-Dead in Pak.

ISI scripted Mumbai attack, Qaida cleared it: Shahzad book
TNN @ Times of India, Jun 2, 2011, 01.03am IST

NEW DELHI: The 26/11 terror attacks that killed 166 people and brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war was scripted by ISI officers and approved before its execution by al-Qaida commanders, according to a book just written by slain Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad.

The 40-year-old reporter in his book titled `Inside Al-Qaeda and the Taleban -- beyond bin Laden and 9/11' describes the Mumbai plan as one pushed through by Ilyas Kashmiri, a key al-Qaida ally with wide links with the Pakistan defence establishment. Shahzad, who was an authority on terrorism in Afghanistan and the neighbourhood, says in the book that the plan was authored by the Inter-Services Intelligence officers and embraced and executed by Lashkar-e-Taiba.

With Ilyas Kashmiri's immense expertise on Indian operations, he stunned the al-Qaeda leaders with the suggestion that expanding the war theatre was the only way to overcome the present impasse. He presented the suggestion of conducting such a massive operation in India as would bring India and Pakistan to war and with that all proposed operations against Al-Qaeda would be brought to a grinding halt. Al-Qaeda excitedly approved the attack-India proposal," Shahzad wrote in the book, excerpts of which were published in Karachi's The Dawn newspaper on Wednesday....

Daniel Pearl was similarly

NCD — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 03:37:38 +0000

In reply to Shahzad's murder appears to

Daniel Pearl was similarly done in by the ISI in the opinion of many.

Shahzad's murder appears to

acanuck — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 01:31:58 +0000

In reply to Journalist Investigating ISI Links to al Qaeda-Dead in Pak.

Shahzad's murder appears to confirm the accuracy of his latest reports, which show a Pakistani military (the navy in this case) so fearful of its infiltration by extremists that it actually negotiated directly with Al-Qaìda for the release of detained suspects.

Shahzad was a man of great courage -- for a Pakistani journalist, a fatal flaw.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/ME27Df06.html