Pakistani journalist killed after investigative report on military base assault

Its a disaster up there!

He went missing in Islamabad while on way to participate in a TV talk show on 29 May. Two days before his abduction, Saleem Shahzad published an article in the Asia Times Online investigating reasons behind a daring militant attack on a highly guarded naval base in Karachi.

Shahzad was the third journalist killed this year. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has termed Pakistan the “deadliest in the world for journalists”.

Islamabad, 1 June (AKI) - Pakistani Qamar Yousafzai five years ago spent time in captivity with fellow reporter and compatriot Saleem Shahzad. Shazad's battered corpse was identified on Tuesday, two days after his disappearance. Now Yousafzai doesn't want Shazad's case to go unsolved and is asking for his friend's killers to be brought to justice.

"I appeal to the world's journalist community to get justice. Or for the Pakistani government to help us find the truth. I ask all to please take a strong stand on this case.

"If we have the investigative journalistic knowledge we will reach our goal," Yousafzai, an editor for Islamabad Times and a freelance journalist, said Wednesday in an e-mailed statement sent to Adnkronos International (AKI).

Shahzad's body was identified in eastern Punjab province and was brought to Islamabad. His body showed signs of torture and a news report said he was shot in the stomach. Following his disappearance, reports said he was being held by the powerful Pakistani secret service, the Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI.

Shahzad's death prompted Pakistani interior minister Rehman Malik to announce the legalisation of small-calibre arms for journalists.

Since 2010, 15 Pakistani journalists have been killed, making Pakistan one of the world's most dangerous countries for the profession, according to press watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

"I'm not afraid of these militants. We're reporting on the war on terrorism and we must work for peace," he told AKI by telephone on Wednesday from Islamabad.

Yousafzai and Shahzad in November 2006 were kidnapped by Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan's Helmand province, where they reporting. They were held for a week on suspicion of espionage, subjected to a mock trial by their captors and released after they admitted 'wrongdoing'.

Shahzad had worked for Adnkronos Intermnational since 2004. He was also Hong Kong based newspaper Asia Times Online's Asia bureau chief.