KARACHI, May 30: “We have no hope and faith on police and government as they are not serious in providing justice as no progress has been made in the case in fact “they” neglected the commission’s recommendations” says Anita, widow of slain journalist Saleem Shahzad.
On May 29, 2011, Shahzad was picked up from federal capital while on his way to appear in television talk show to discuss his investigative report on Mehran Naval base attack, published on May 27, 2011 and his dead body with visible torture marks was found about 150 Kilo Meters away from Islamabad, floating in a canal in the limits of Saddar Police Station district Mandi Bahauddin, Punjab province, on 30th May.
Shahzad leaves behind his widow and three children, two sons and a daughter. Shahzad, an Islamabad based journalist, Bureau Chief of “Asia Times Online” (a Hong Kong-based news website), and South Asia Correspondent for Italian news agency Adnkronos International (AKI) in Pakistan.
Hamza Ameer, Shahzad’s brother in law and the correspondent of Turkish Radio and Television, who is pursuing the case, regretted that even after six years of Shahzad’s murder, neither the aggressors apprehended nor the recommendations of an inquiry commission formed to probe the incident have been implemented.
Ameer told Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) that he is disappointed at the lack of progress in the investigation and said today we are commemorating his death anniversary but journalists and NGOs have forgotten his brutal murder. “Police have gravely neglected the investigation and every new appointed Station House Officer of Saddar Police station Mandi Bahauddin used to make phone calls to me and asking about updates and clue of accused in Shahzad case but since last two years it has been stopped as well” he added
According to media reports on October 17, 2010 Shahzad was called upon for meeting by state intelligence agency officials at Islamabad headquarters regarding his report “Pakistan frees Taliban commander”, published a day before in Asia Times Online. He had received multiple life threats including state agency.
In its concluding remarks, the commission report said that Shahzad’s death should be examined in the context of the “war on terror”. “The Pakistani state, the non-state actors such as the Taliban and al Qaeda, and foreign actors” could all have had a motive to commit the crime.
But “the commission has been unable to identify the culprits”, it said. The Commission has also admitted in its report that “in our present circumstances, investigating criminal allegations against security agencies is a rather difficult task”.
