Pakistan: English PEN and Pluto Press condemn murder of Syed Saleem Shahzad

English PEN and Pluto Press strongly condemn and express outrage over the disappearance, torture, and murder of Pakistani journalist and author Syed Saleem Shahzad. We offer our deepest condolences to Shahzad’s family.

Syed Saleem Shahzad did what reporters do: last week, he published the first of a two-part investigation into possible infiltration into Pakistan’s naval forces by Al Qaeda. The investigation was timely, in that it appeared within days of the terrorist attack on the Karachi naval base. On May 29, Shahzad left his house to appear at a television studio. He never reached the studio; his phone had been switched off. Today, his body has been found, showing signs of torture.

Shahzad was a brave reporter who regularly wrote about Pakistan’s military, intelligence, and extremist organisations. He was the bureau chief of Asia Times Online, the Hong Kong-based web-based newspaper. He recently published the ground-breaking Inside Al – Qaeda and the Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11, which highlights the dangerous climate in Pakistan since the attacks of 9/11. Since 1992, 36 journalists have been killed in Pakistan according to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, 17 of them since 2007. According to the International News Safety Institute, Pakistan was the most dangerous country for journalists in 2010.
 
Shahzad is not the first reporter to be silenced so brutally in Pakistan. Pakistan’s authorities must conduct an immediate investigation into his death, and prosecute and punish the perpetrators to send a strong signal to the perpetrators that rule of law will prevail.

Salil Tripathi, Writers in Prison Committee Chair, English PEN