Missing Pakistani journalist dead, ISI hand suspected
A Pakistani journalist, who was allegedly abducted by the country’s military spy agency on Sunday after writing about links between the armed forces and al Qaeda, was found dead in eastern Pakistan, officials said. HT reports.
A Pakistani journalist, who was allegedly abducted by the country’s military spy agency on Sunday after writing about links between the armed forces and al Qaeda, was found dead in eastern Pakistan, officials said on Tuesday.
The body of Syed Saleem Shehzad, bureau chief of Asia Times Online and a reporter with Italian news agency AKI, was found in Sarai Alamgir, 150 km southeast of Islamabad. He was buried on Monday and was identified from pictures taken before the burial.
Human Rights Watch said Shehzad had complained of being threatened by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.
The body, the police said, bore torture marks. Shehzad, 40, went missing after he left his Islamabad home to take part in a TV talk-show.
He disappeared two days after writing a report that al Qaeda carried out the May 23 attack on the Mehran naval air base to avenge the arrest of officials suspended for links with the terror outfit.
"This killing bears all the hallmarks of previous killings perpetrated by Pakistani intelligence agencies,” said Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch.
But, not everyone is convinced. “It is a clear attempt at defaming the ISI,” said Imran Khan, leader of the Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Insaf.