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Murder

Pakistan's Deadly Beat: Investigative Reporter Saleem Shahzad's Murder Exposes the High Cost of Truth in Journalism

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

Saleem Shahzad, a 40-year-old investigative reporter for the Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online, was brutally murdered in Islamabad two weeks ago. The slain journalist's body was found with 17 different injuries, including smashed face and cracked ribs, in a canal outside the capital. Shahzad's death has sent shockwaves through Pakistan's media and government, with many accusing the country's powerful spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), of his murder.

Key Takeaways:

  • Saleem Shahzad was no stranger to danger, having been kidnapped by the Taliban in Helmand in 2006 and interviewing notorious jihadi Ilyas Kashmiri, reportedly killed in a CIA drone strike last week.
  • Shahzad had probed controversial links between Islamist militants and Pakistan's military, publishing his research in his book "Inside Al Qaeda and the Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11."
  • The chief suspect in Shahzad's murder is Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the country's most powerful spy agency, with allegations that the agency had summoned Shahzad to divulge his sources for a story on a released Taliban commander.
  • The killing has sparked widespread criticism of the ISI, with many calling for greater transparency and accountability from the agency.
  • Pakistan has become a battleground for journalists, with 16 reporters killed in the past 18 months, more than in Mexico's drug wars, Somalia's street battles, or Afghanistan's battlefields.
  • Many journalists in Pakistan remain silenced, fearful of repercussions, with some exceptions, such as Umar Cheema, a correspondent for the News, who accused the ISI of responsibility for his abduction and torture.
  • Expectations are low for the inquiry into Shahzad's death, with the police reluctant to pursue the case and phone records of the last 18 days of Shahzad's life mysteriously erased.
  • The ISI has faced unprecedented scrutiny in the wake of Shahzad's death and the bin Laden debacle, with former army officers questioning its tactics and opposition MP Ayaz Amir calling for the spy agency's budget to be made public.

Statistics:

  • 16 journalists have been killed in Pakistan in the past 18 months.
  • 17 injuries were found on Saleem Shahzad's body.
  • The ISI has allegedly issued veiled threats to journalists, including Saleem Shahzad, who were told they would be notified if their names were on a "hit list."
  • The number of news channels in Pakistan has gone from one (state-run) to dozens since former president Pervez Musharraf liberalized the television sector in 2004.
  • About a dozen reporters have been killed, kidnapped, or tortured by ethnic nationalist rebels or military intelligence in conflict-hit Balochistan province since 2009.

Sources:

  • Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch
  • Reporters without Borders
  • Hameed Haroon, president of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society
  • Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) statement
  • Saleem Shahzad's book "Inside Al Qaeda and the Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11"
  • Umar Cheema, correspondent for the News
  • Benjamin Ismail of Reporters Without Borders
  • The Express Tribune
  • Pervez Musharraf's liberalization of the television sector in 2004
  • Ayaz Amir, opposition MP

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