'Pakistan a deadly place for journalists'

Pakistan is a "deadly country for journalists", said a leading daily as it noted that just hours before journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad was abducted, he was warned that his work was ruffling feathers in certain quarters. Shahzad's body, bearing torture marks, was found two days later.

Shahzad, 40, went missing Sunday from outside his residence in Islamabad and he was said to have been picked up by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence . His body was found near a canal Tuesday.

A correspondent of Asia Times Online, Shahzad wrote extensively on Islamist groups. He had authored an article for Asia Times that said that Al Qaeda's operational arm attacked Karachi's Mehran naval base after the navy did not free sailors arrested for suspected Islamist links.

An editorial in the Dawn Thursday said: "If the world labels Pakistan a deadly country for journalists, it is hardly off the mark."

The discovery on Shahzad's body and "the circumstances under which he appears to have been killed, reflects the degree of impunity with which elements seeking to silence journalistic voices can operate".

"Extracts from his recently published book (`Inside Al Qaeda and the Taliban') indicates that he was in possession of facts that could prove unsettling for elements within the security establishment. Given this, there are suspicions that some sections of the latter may have been involved in his murder," the editorial said.

It added that for the journalistic community, Shahzad's brutal killing is "another grim reminder of its helplessness. Journalists are under attack from not just the terrorists, but also potentially (from) sections of the state`s security apparatus".

"Yet never is any such case investigated; no persecutor is brought to book. Pakistan is a deadly place for journalists not just because they are killed - that happens elsewhere too - but because the state refuses to pursue the cases. The message is that journalists can be silenced with impunity."

The editorial went on to say that just hours before his abduction, Shahzad "was reportedly warned by a friend that his work was ruffling feathers in certain quarters `and these people are not benign'."

"Shahzad paid with his life for this lack of accountability; so too may many more until the state stops shielding those who deal in death in the name of opaque security paradigms. The onus is on the security agencies to prove they had no role in his murder."