June 01, 2011 The Commonwealth Journalists Association is outraged over the slaying of yet another Pakistani journalist and urges the Pakistan government to do all it can to find the perpetrators.
The body of Syed Saleem Shahzad, an Islamabad-based journalist was found on May 31, two days after he had been reported missing and a day after both the Reporters Without Borders and the International Federation of Journalists had sent a joint letter to President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani calling for immediate action to find Shahzad.
Police sources said Shahzad’s post-mortem report showed multiple injuries throughout his body. “Liver failure and ruptured lungs could have caused his death,” said an official, confirming there were as many as 15 visible wounds on his body. His ribs were also broken.
The wounds suggested Shahzad was subjected to severe torture which might have caused his death, said a police official who had seen the post-mortem report.
He wrote about Islamic militants and Al-Qaeda for the online newspaper Asia Today.
CJA president Hassan Shahriar said he and his colleagues at the CJA are alarmed and dismayed over the rising incidents of violence against journalists in Pakistan especially for those journalists who are working in tribal areas. The Rural Media Network of Pakistan’s website http://www.ruralmedianetwork.org.pk has reported that nine Pakistani journalists have lost their lives since the start of 2011. Seventeen were killed in 2010.
“We demand that Pakistani government take steps to provide security for journalists and allow them to carry out their duties without fear of harm and intimidation,” said Shahriar.
Shahzad’s latest article for Asia Times was about a Taliban-led attack on Mehran naval base in Karachi on 22 May in which 11 soldiers and four attackers were killed. He said in his report that Al-Qaeda had established a “good network” within the Pakistani navy and that “there were negotiations between an Al-Qaeda operative in North Waziristan and naval officers.
Read the Reporters Without Borders story. www.rsf.org.
