Syed Saleem Shahzad Of The Asia Times Murdered In Pakistan

Syed Saleem Shahzad was the bureau chief for the Asia Times on Line in Pakistan had reported on the Taliban and Al Qaeda operating within Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The kidnapping and murder of Asia Times Online's Pakistan bureau chief, Syed Saleem Shahzad, only days after he had exposed a possible link between al-Qaeda and Pakistani servicemen [1], in the macabre but gory drama of Karachi's apparently well-guarded naval-aviation base, Mehran, invaded on May 22 by a handful of terrorists, raises that obvious question.

Saleem, 40, disappeared on his way to a television interview in Islamabad on Sunday evening. On Tuesday, police said they had found his body in Mandi Bahauddin, about 150 kilometers southeast of the capital. There were indications that he had been tortured.

Human Rights Watch cited a "reliable interlocutor" who said Saleem had been abducted by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). "This killing bears all the hallmarks of previous killings perpetrated by Pakistani intelligence agencies," said a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch in South Asia, Ali Dayan Hasan. He called for a "transparent investigation and court proceedings".

Given the ISI's sorted past like their involvement in the creation of the Taliban and the belief that certain elements within the ISI have not only worked with Al Qaeda but provided training, intelligence and financial assistance to those who attacked Mumbai in November 2008.