June 1, 2011
Pakistani Spy Agency Denies Role in Journalist's Killing
By CARLOTTA GALL
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, said allegations that its operatives were behind the abduction and killing of the journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad were baseless, and vowed Wednesday to help bring the perpetrators to justice.
An ISI official denied that the agency had made any threats to the journalist and described his death as "unfortunate and tragic" and a "source of concern for the entire nation." The intelligence official was unnamed in accordance with the nature of his job and made the comments to the government news agency, the Associated Press of Pakistan.
Mr. Shahzad, who reported on terrorism issues, was buried in his hometown, Karachi, on Wednesday. He was abducted from an upscale area of the capital, Islamabad, on Sunday evening and his body was found 100 miles away [1] on Monday.
Doctors who examined his body in Islamabad said it bore signs of torture and 15 marks of beating, Agence France-Presse reported. Human Rights Watch said that Mr. Shahzad had received repeated threats from Pakistan's intelligence agencies over a period of three years and that the abduction bore all the hallmarks of the ISI, which has been accused of multiple human rights abuses against journalists and political activists in Pakistan.
But the ISI said it was regrettable that some sections of the media had leveled such allegations against the agency. It called on them to act responsibly and suggested that it may consider taking legal action against them.
The official said that a meeting between ISI officials and Mr. Shahzad in October was part of the media wing's mandate to keep in touch with members of the media and that it represented nothing sinister.
"The ISI offers its deepest and heartfelt condolence to the bereaved family and assures them that it will leave no stone unturned in helping to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice," the official stated.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/01/world/asia/01pakistan.html