The US on Wednesday provided more talk as the State Department called on the Pakistani government to investigate the murder of investigative journalist Saleem Shazad. Shahzad, Asia Times bureau chief, was found dead in a canal in Mandi Bahauddin, about 150kms southwest of Islamabad.
He had gone missing on Sunday while on his way to a TV interview. Addressing journalists in Washington, State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner said, “It’s unclear what happened. We’ve called on Pakistani authorities to investigate the circumstances of his death.”
Toner told journalists that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement late night and explained the delayed reaction from the State Department saying, “We get these things from various bureaus within the department, and we release them as soon as they’re available. I’d rather do that than hold them overnight on what is a news event.”
“The United States strongly condemns the abduction and killing of reporter Syed Saleem Shahzad,” Clinton said in the State Department statement, adding, “His work reporting on terrorism and intelligence issues in Pakistan brought to light the troubles extremism poses to Pakistan’s stability.” To a question if the secretary or any other state department official made any personal calls to Islamabad, Toner said, “I’m not aware that the secretary has made any direct calls to her Pakistani counterparts about it.” Dismissing it as a regular human rights issue, Toner said, “We continue to raise these types of human rights and freedom of the press issues all the time with Pakistani government officials.”