Saleem Shahzad Commission’s report
The much-awaited report of the commission the government had set up to investigate the kidnapping and brutal murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad is out – and disappointingly unhelpful in establishing the truth.
It says “Saleem’s writings probably, did, and certainly could have drawn the ire of various belligerents in the war on terror, which included the Pakistani state and non-state actors, such as the Taliban and al Qaeda and foreign actors.” Adds the report, “any of these could have had the motive to commit the crime, as clearly he was also in close contact with all of these.” The police have been advised to continue to investigate the case diligently and impartially, without fear or favour.
Notably, the commission was headed by a Supreme Court judge, and its members included Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court, PPO Punjab, IG Islamabad Police, and a representative of the journalists union, PFUJ.
If such a high powered commission could not deliver a conclusive inquiry report, it is too much to expect ordinary police to conduct its investigation without fear or favour.
It may be recalled that when Saleem was kidnapped last May from Islamabad and his body was discovered two days later about 130 kilometres away in Mandi Bahauddin, it was widely speculated that he was killed by the ISI, which was believed to be unhappy over his reporting on the Mehran Naval Base terrorist attack as well as a book he wrote entitled “Inside Al Qaeda and the Taliban: beyond bin Laden and 9/11” and published in London, which contained incriminating though unverified accounts of the intelligence agency’s links with the Taliban as well as the Mumbai attacks.
His connections to the murky and dangerous world of the extremists also cast suspicions in the direction of the Taliban.
After holding as many as 31 formal meetings and examining 41 witnesses, the commission was expected to name some names.
Instead acknowledging its failure to uncover substantial evidence/tangible material, direct or circumstantial, which could help single out a perpetrator, it has essentially regurgitated those suspicions.
Which does not bode well for the journalistic community.
This country already having earned the unsavoury distinction of being the most dangerous country for journalists is to remain unsafe in the foreseeable future.
The one good thing that has come out of this commission is a set of recommendations.
A particularly vital one urges the government to carry out legislation to place intelligence agencies under a three-tier disciplinary system.
This is to be done first by making them more accountable on an intra-agency level and before the minister-in-charge as part of an internal administrative review system; second, through assigning oversight responsibility to a parliamentary committee; and third, via a suitably tailored judicial forum for redress of grievances against them.
Hopefully, the government will move swiftly to implement this recommendation while the issue is still hot.
Waste of time will mean a wasted opportunity to rein in our wayward and over-assertive agencies.
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