Saleem Shahzad

Incident Description: Abducted; body recovered

On May 30, 2011, the body of the Pakistan Bureau Chief for Asia Times Online and correspondent for Italian news agency Adnkronos (AKI), Saleem Shahzad was found near Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad. Shahzad’s body was found 150 kilometres southeast of the capital. He went missing after leaving his home to take part in a television show. Shahzad’s body was found in Mandi Bahauddin and his relatives had identified him thereafter.

His car was found in Sarai Alamgir. According to Dawn, Shahzad was found dead after he had written about links between the Pakistani military and Al-Qaeda. Two days after he wrote an investigative report for Asia Times, he went missing. The report, as per Dawn, said that Al-Qaeda had carried out an attack on a naval air base to avenge the arrest of naval officials arrested on suspicion of Al-Qaeda links.

According to a senior South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW), Ali Dayan Hasan, the deceased journalist had complained about being threatened by the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI). Shahzad left behind his wife and three children. According to The Express Tribune, HRW had “pointed fingers” at the ISI and later US government officials had announced they had “reliable” and “conclusive” intelligence of this.

This was an allegation the ISI denied.

In 2013, the case regarding Shahzad’s murder was closed due to a lack of evidence. Additionally, a judicial commission set up, failed to identify those behind the incident.