“Don’t take tension and switch to cartoons,” my KG-going daughter innocently advised her mother, noting the palpable shock on her face as news broke of Saleem Shahzad’s brutal murder last week.
Shock is a small word. Imagine the plight, nay horror, of the family he has left behind – a widow and three very young children, for whom life will never be the same again, if it has not, in very recognizable way, already lost its meaning.
For families with journalists doing “sensitive” stories, life is pretty much on the edge in what, after all, is the world’s most dangerous place for its practitioners. More than Shahzad’s credentials – I met him only once, now a blurred handshake in memory – it is the family’s plight that often goes unnoticed in obits.
My heart goes out to them. Indeed, the youngest son was basking in the glory of a poem well recited, when a friend dropped in for condolences at his residence in Islamabad – totally, unaware of the tragedy that had befallen him and his family!
And so, I have an issue with Shahzad posthumously, even if at the risk of sounding politically correct. He should have known to ply his trade better than he did in the kingdom of Invisible-Soldiers Incorporated.
In a land abounding with mediocrity and compromised character, Shahzad should have been content to do the done deal. Why bother with blowing the whistle and developing a fetish for saying it like it is, especially if it is guaranteed to ruffle the feathers of the mighty and notorious.
Shahzad had enough friends to caution him against tempting fate.
But like most accounts that missed a word on the shattered family in the wake of his murder, he perhaps, forgot that the only insurance policy the Deep State deals in is its own. For those who try their hand at determining “national interest”, it is quick to remind how treacherous that slope is. In other words, the term of reference is its sole preserve and patent.
Looked at a trite dispassionately, it is amazing that despite being the most dangerous place to be a journalist – more than 70 killed in the line of duty in the last decade alone – it says something about these extraordinary practitioners that they refuse to lay down the pen.
The country remains stuck in violence and utter lack of security to citizens. Since Vietnam, more newsmen have lost their lives in Pakistan and Afghanistan than in any other conflict zone in the world.
In a short time, Shahzad had established his credibility as an enterprising and resourceful investigative journalist. He even went beyond the call of duty in total devotion and commitment to professionalism to risk his life on several occasions and produce spectacular stories.
But he made a fatal claim about knowing much more than he had reported and that footnote following the damning disclosures about the Mehran base attack about a follow-up piece on how the militants were trained and recruited. After that it was unlikely he would have been spared. Another voice of truth has been silenced with grim warning to others.
The accusing finger has been widely pointed at that secret agency by many, including Shahzad in his life time. It is the circumstances of his disappearance and subsequent death that have drawn suspicion.
His disclosure about Mehran base attack and previous reports could not but have offended the security establishment. The agency, of course, denies a hand and dispelled the impression about threatening Shahzad through an unnamed official, but this was vehemently rejected by the All Pakistan Newspapers Society led by Hameed Haroon, who said Shahzad had himself spoken to him about the threats.
The spooks are already under pressure since the Abbottabad operation. Ironically, it is the CIA which is accusing them of complicity and incompetence, conveniently forgetting that it was the CIA that had trained them in mission impossible during the Cold War.
It is accused of arrogating to itself the prerogative of defining national interests and ideological frontiers of the country. It is also charged with dangerous political games involving the formation of alliances or making and breaking of governments.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani promised an inquiry panel but it has already come a cropper for lack of consensus and fiat. The scepticism voiced by the media is thus not misplaced.
The Umar Cheema case remains untraced despite assurances from even top officials from the security establishment. In his usual over-exuberance, the interior minister has said Shahzad may well have been victim of personal enmity, thus pre-determining and pre-empting any impartial probe.
Thus ISI Chief Shuja Pasha and Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani would do well to order a transparent investigation, if only to provide solace to Shahzad’s grieving and wronged family.
The writer is a newspaper editor based in Islamabad and can be reached at [email protected]
