Pakistan: Report on journalist's killing ignored ISI despite 'strong indications'

Islamabad, 30 Jan. (AKI) - Pakistan must ''redouble'' its efforts to get to the bottom of a local journalist's murder following a commission's inadequate effort to seriously look into the possible involvement by the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence’s (ISI), according to a statement by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

"Despite strong indications of ISI involvement, the commission concluded that the Pakistani state, militant groups including the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and unnamed ‘foreign actors’ could all have had a motive to kill Shahzad on the basis of his writings," HRW Asia Director Brad Adams said on Monday in a statement.

The badly beaten body of Shahzad, who worked as a correspondent for Adnkroknos International and Southeast Asia bureau chief for the Asia Times Online was found in a canal 150 kilometres southwest of Islamabad on 31 May, two days after he disappeared in the capital.

The commission, headed by a Supreme Court justice, presented its report to the prime minister after six months of its formation. Nobody was named as responsible for Shahzad's abduction, torture and murder.

Suspicion over the 40-year-old father-of-three's murder has fallen strongly on ISI, which in an unusual move denied involvement in his death. Days before Shahzad's disappearance he published an article in Asia Times Online alleging links between Al-Qaeda and officials in the Pakistani navy.Over 70 journalists who have been killed in the line of duty in Pakistan since 2000. It is the most dangerous country in the world for journalists.

“ISI abuses will only stop if it is subject to the rule of law, civilian oversight, and public accountability,” Adams said. “It is the government’s duty to insist on such accountability and the military’s duty to submit to it. The ISI needs to stop acting as a state within a state.”