Last week we lost two prominent journalists. In Patna, Dr. Rizwan Ahmad, 64, died of liver cancer. He reaped a rich harvest as print and electronic journalist. Demise of a well-informed contributor to Urdu Media was widely condoled. Another journalist, a promising youth, Syed Saleem Shahzad, 40, also fell to a cancerous growth but of a different kind.
The killer growth, which took away the talented and courageous journalist, is spreading fast in the body politic of Pakistan, a young nation at 60. Misplaced perception of nationhood conjoined with false notion of religiosity, misguided zeal to corner gardens in the heavens by usurping lives of innocent people, reckless destruction of public property, killings by State Security apparatus to cover up their incompetence and failures are all manifestations of cancer-like growth, pushing the society into the hell. What crime may be more heinous than striping Pakistan of its identity as “Islamic” and a “Republic”?
We, as Muslims, as humanists and as humble journalists, strongly condemn the brazen act of silencing a media person. Whoever killed him, military or militants or both in nexus, slain Shahzad has left in his death a beacon light for young journalists, who want to be fearless in performance of their sacred duty, without succumbing to intimidation.
Pakistan Naval Air Station (PNS) Mehran, near Karachi, was attacked by militants on May 22 and Shahzad filed a story in Asia Times Online on 27th revealing presence of militant cells active in Naval Bases near Karachi. His opening paragraph said:
“Al-Qaeda carried out the brazen attack on PNS Mehran naval air station in Karachi on May 22 after talks failed between the navy and al-Qaeda over the release of naval officials arrested on suspicion of al-Qaeda links, an Asia Times Online investigation reveals.”
He revealed, “Asia Times Online contacts confirm that the attackers were from Ilyas Kashmiri’s 313 Brigade, the operational arm of al-Qaeda. Three attacks on navy buses in which at least nine people were killed last month were warning shots for navy officials to accept al-Qaeda’s demands over the detained suspects.”
In his eye-opening story, he further wrote: “The May 2 killing in Pakistan of Osama bin Laden spurred al-Qaeda groups into developing a consensus for the attack in Karachi, in part as revenge for the death of their leader. The deeper underlying motive, though, was a reaction to massive internal crackdowns on al-Qaeda affiliates within the navy.
“Several weeks ago, naval intelligence traced an al-Qaeda cell operating inside several navy bases… the grouping was against the leadership of the armed forces and opposed to its nexus with the United States against Islamic militancy.
“At least 10 people – mostly from the lower cadre – were arrested… were held in a naval intelligence office behind the chief minister’s residence in Karachi, but before proper interrogation could begin, the in-charge of the investigation received direct threats from militants who made it clear they knew where the men were being detained.”
“The militants feared interrogation would lead to the arrest of more of their loyalists. The militants therefore made it clear that if those detained were not released, naval installations would be attacked.
“Militants were receiving good inside information… indicating sizeable al-Qaeda infiltration within the navy’s ranks.
“A senior-level naval conference was called at which an intelligence official insisted that the matter be handled with great care; otherwise the consequences could be disastrous. Everybody present agreed, and it was decided to open a line of communication with al-Qaeda.
“Abdul Samad Mansoori, a former student union activist and now part of 313 brigade, was approached and talks begun. Al-Qaeda demanded the immediate release of the officials without further interrogation. This was rejected.
“The detainees were well treated, but officials were desperate to interrogate them fully. The militants were told that once interrogation was completed, the men would be discharged from the service and freed. Al-Qaeda rejected these terms and expressed its displeasure with the attacks on the navy buses in April.
“After Bin Laden was killed, militants decided the time was ripe for major action.
“Within a week, insiders at PNS Mehran provided maps, pictures of different exit and entry routes taken in daylight and at night, the location of hangers and details of likely reaction from external security forces.”
The story is hugely embarrassing and added more salt to the wounds of ISI and military leadership which is for the first time under fire from civil society for their failure. ISI wants to know Shahzad’s source of information. After a story in October he was called to ISI office and questioned. Shahzad indicated about intelligence agencies dealings with extremists, and said intelligence officers had warned him.
Sharing details of his meeting with Intelligence officials, he wrote to the Pakistan representative of Human Rights Watch: “I am forwarding this email to you for your record only if in case something happens to me or my family in future.” Shahzad said that they had threatened him; an experience that Pakistani journalists, activists and politicians say is not uncommon. However ISI sources deny threatening to Shahzad and refuted blame of their involvement in his killing.
Shahzad said in his mail that the ISI summoned him over an article that said Pakistan had released Abdul Ghani Baradar, an Afghan Taliban commander arrested in Karachi in early 2010, so that he could play a part in reconciliation talks in Afghanistan. After Osama assassination, there were speculations in a media that Baradar provided information of Osama hideout under “deal” with US administration.
An ISI official asked Shahzad to identify his source and write a denial; Shahzad said he declined; allowing only that the story was leaked by intelligence and confirmed by “the most credible” Taliban source.
Reports citing well-informed contacts in the Pakistani Police say his kidnapping and murder were related not only to his investigation into the Mehran attack, but also into the local support base of Osama Bin Laden which facilitated his stay for over five years at Abbottabad. His investigations post-May 2 were dangerously moving in that direction.
His discovery of the penetration of Al Qaeda into the Navy was only the first step in his investigation. He had also indicated at the end of the first part of his dispatch that the second part would cover “the recruitment and training of militants.”
His story of insurgent’s deep penetration into Pak Navy indicates that TTP has made inroads into the security setup from bottom to the top and has grown so strong that security forces are reluctant to act against their moles. Insurgents are not merely threatening but have gained capability to strike at will.
This has also given credence to the speculation that Pak nuclear installations may also not be safe. US have recently warned Pakistan to launch military operation in North East Frontier border regions of North Waziristan to “eliminate” Mullah Umar, Al-Zawahiri, Ilyas Kashmiri, etc. The super power has also expressed concern on the security of nuclear installations.
The situation prevailing in the country is dangerously slipping out of the hands and danger of Afghanistan-like scenario is looming large. Attack on PNS Mehran and killing of Shahzad have triggered a chain of reaction within the country and outside.
We in India cannot remain unconcerned of this. Civil war-like conditions or intervention of other forces is not only dangerous for Pakistan but also for us.
Shahzad went missing on the evening of May 29, 2011 in Islamabad, while going to a TV news channel in the city. A Human Rights Watch official in Pakistan, Ali Dayan Hasan has pointed out that it would have been difficult for anyone unaffiliated with the security agencies to abduct a man and his car from Islamabad, a city riddled with police checkpoints. However possibility exists of kidnapping by some extremists as security forces in the same city had proved their incompetence or reluctance when they failed to stop killer gang who gunned down Benazir Bhutto in broad daylight and insurgents attacked Marriott Hotel. Attack on Mehran NAS has proved nexus between Pakistani Security apparatus and insurgents and they have proved their capability to target anybody, anywhere, any time.
After two days of his disappearance his car with his dead body was reportedly found at a place about 150 kms from Islamabad on May 31. His body had 15 torture wounds, indicating he had been severely tortured in order to extract information from him. No bullet mark was found on his body. This explains the degree of torture which caused death to a strong-built young man.
Punjab Police displayed extraordinary urgency in identifying his dead body, completing autopsy and dispatching the coffin to Karachi within hours of retrieving from a canal, 150 kms away from Islamabad.
Prime Minister Asif Raza Gilani has ordered an enquiry and Home Minister Rehman Malik has expressed his confidence to find out the truth. But everybody knows, as B. Raman summed up in his analysis:
The “real” truth will never be known just as the “real” truth behind the murder of Murtaza Bhutto in Karachi in 1996 and behind the murder of Benazir Bhutto at Rawalpindi in 2007 was never known.
“People will be arrested and prosecuted, but they will not be the real perpetrators. The history of Pakistan is full of such instances of mysterious elimination of inconvenient people. Shahzad is the latest to join the ranks of such mysteriously eliminated people. He has paid with his life for daring to look into two incidents which the ISI wanted to be covered up – the Mehran attack and the stay of OBL at Abbottabad.”
[The writer is Gen. Sec. of Forum for Civil rights based in New Delhi; he can be contacted at syyedagha@hotmail.com]