Pak Tea House » Democracy, journalism, Liberal Democratic Pakistan, Pakistan, secular Pakistan, Terrorism » Saleem Shahzad’s Passing: And The Score Is Despair 3, Hope 0
Saleem Shahzad’s Passing: And The Score Is Despair 3, Hope 0
By D. Asghar
Nothing can be more disheartening, than news of someone’s brutal murder. This year started out with a tragic and insane murder of Governor Salman Taseer in Islamabad. That killer who was supposed to be the “bodyguard”, Mumtaz Qadri surrendered on the spot. Or else we would still be looking for Taseer’s assassin. The indifferent attitude of many was appalling. Their callous and cruel display towards his point of view was to say the least, beyond shameful.
It was followed by the equally gruesome murder of the Minorities Minister, Shahbaz Bhatti. He was gunned down and till date his killers are perhaps roaming. Of course his life was not such a precious thing to many, perhaps because of his belief.
In both of these cases, the cold and crazy attitude of many was despicable. The idea of dissent to survive was murdered by these unfortunate killings. The nation so engulfed with a daily dose of killings is perhaps numb. No amount of mayhem can move it from deep down. We are withering from the inside, without a doubt.
One was still recovering from all the horrific dust of PNS Mehran incident, when the news of Saleem Shahzad’s missing appeared on the Twitter zone and then a flurry of emails followed. The horrific news of his death has sent more shock waves. It is of course worthy of the strongest condemnation. A journalist who is expressing his freedom to speak and inform, is put to sleep, in such a barbaric fashion. It just leaves you speechless.
Of course some news bites will pop up here and there for a couple of days. Some promises will be made, some condemnation from different quarters and a usual investigation probe. After a few weeks, it will be the usual, “ALLAH ALLAH, Khair SALLAH.”
Then suddenly, another one will be taken away from us and we will do the usual. Express our outrage, show our sympathies and then the game will go on. No one is denying the reality of life. It is a blessing that so many are praying for him and may his soul finds the best places up there. Ameen. What a pity, a person who was the source of information and an objective point of view, turns into a news ticker himself.
But just investigative probes, commissions and committees will not yield much. Looking back at our tragic past, one has to be awfully pessimistic or as one would say, really realistic. Those who think that this is yet another conspiracy to malign the name of the truly and perhaps the only “Muslim” nation on the map of “their world”, think again. Whoever is responsible, deserves an exemplary punishment.
Very sadly, with his death the score for despair is now 3, and hope is 0. But who cares and who is keeping the count. I wish in this battle we are able to reverse the course. Hope gets to prevail. Only a very simple wish, isn’t it.
Written by dasghar
D. Asghar is a Pakistani American. A Mortgage Banker by profession who loves to write as well. He blogs frequently at popular South Asian websites. A repository of some of his scribbles is http://dasghar.blogspot.com/. He can be reached at dasghar@aol.com.
Filed under: Democracy, journalism, Liberal Democratic Pakistan, Pakistan, secular Pakistan, Terrorism · Tags: murder, promises, soul, Taseer
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Saleem Shahzad was a brave journalist dedicated to truth. As a long time reader of his colomns, I sometimes wondered if he was bold and honest or at times literally fatalistic in order to expose the dark deeds of terrorists and hypocritical and rotten acts of many Pakistani officials. Sad, like many others he paid by his life so that others may take courage from his death to stand-up. My heart goes out for his grief stricken family members.
[...] Saleem Shahzad’s Passing: And The Score Is Despair 3, Hope 0 [...]
Everyone in the media is openly pointing fingers at ISI.
I am truly disappointed that Imran Khan could not get himself to criticize ISI when condemning this murder.
@krash: You said it yourself ”pointing fingers” . No evidence to prove that ISI kidnapped him. Anyone can kidnap him and kill him. I am also sad that he died this way. But blaming this on ISI will not solve the problem. We need an investigation, but conclusive or not we cant blame whoever we feel like based on our emotions, its not rite.
One of the brightest (and honest) sons of Pakistan has been sent into oblivion. His name though, will live on. Where are the Pakistanis who until not too long ago, were claiming that freedom of the media in Pakistan was more than in any other South Asian country?
@Mustapha
“No evidence to prove that ISI kidnapped him”
Shaheed Saleem Shahzad had himself notified his family and HRW about threats he had been receiving from ISI lately ….. do you want him to come on TV and announce who are his killers ?????
Islam means submission under a 7th century arabic god-concept based on fear of his tyranny and his hell. Where is the question of freedom of expression under islam? Mental slavery is what islam leads to. Honesty and freedom of expression are not islamic “virtues”. Glorify the arab god and his so-called final messenger and perfect book and accept your mental slavery as the best possible happiness – that is real islam.
Slandering, hating and hurting India and hindus was the main occupation of the pakistanis as this islam took over completely and totally. Even children in Pakistan were instigated into this sordid ideology.
Are the pakistanis now waking up or is it too late?
“On Oct. 17, Shahzad had been summoned to the ISI’s headquarters to discuss the contents of an article published the day before with two officials from the agency’s media wing. That report, published in Asia Times Online, alleged that Pakistan had quietly released Afghan Taliban commander Mullah Baradar, Mullah Omar’s deputy, to take part in talks through the Pakistan Army.
According to the email, labeled “For future reference” and seen by TIME, one of the officials said the following words to Shahzad: “I must give you a favor. We have recently arrested a terrorist and recovered a lot of data, diaries and other material during the interrogation. The terrorist had a list with him. If I find your name in the list, I will certainly let you know.”
Incidentally, the two ISI officials present at the meeting, Rear Admiral Adnan Nawaz and Commodore Khalid Pervaiz, are both from the Navy. Pervaiz has just been appointed the new commander of the Karachi naval base that was attacked.”
From: http://pundita.blogspot.com/2011/05/human-rights-watch-claims-journalist.html
I should say Dispair 10 and Hope Zero+.
in london during 1960, i would enlighten the west (against the dysmal background of our dip-low-mats who were fond of pontifying that they hail off iranian dna or koh-kaff origin) that i come from a civilized country which is not a banana republic.
today i find that we are worse than a banana republic.
of course some semi-imported New Jersey Clad quacKKK (and later day Hedge which is my Pun Jobi for Hajjji) may
jactitate that Iqbal Geoffrey has never been beyond Yakki Gate, that too on on a tongue-gaw and in deed never crossed theb Sutlej.
my advise to the Per worse Lot is this:
TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU JA FREE,. quoting Saint John.
Hallelujah!
This is what I wrote on the Facebook page of a friend:
“The world of intelligence works on the ability to access and filter information. Saleem Shahzad’s death was not only intended to silence him from uncovering the links between the Pakistani military and the militants BUT more importantly, find out his contacts that were providing him with the information that was refuting the official “party line”.”
ciao
@ Observer
More or less your observation is the present day reality.
Followers of the Islam faith are the only ones who comeout of the place of worship(Mosque) and behave violently after the weekly prayers. This clearly confirms there is something fundamentally wrong in Islamic foundation. The percentage of so called good people is fraction of the population hence revival is not in our life time.
ISLAMABAD: A majority of Pakistanis favour the government taking steps for the “Islamisation” of society and almost a third of them believe the process should be completed in one go, according to new survey.
This answers your question, Are the pakistanis now waking up or is it too late?
I suspect too that they wanted to know his sources. 15 blows, one fatal one to the chest. No bullet. Quick burial (with subsequent exhumation on order of a judge for a post mortem). Islamabad police not wanting to get involved.
He must have resisted otherwise he may have been dumped and left alive by the wayside. Umer Cheema, Najam Sethi, others have been picked up and left after a warning – so there is a pattern here except it was not deadly before.
It is also reported that the day before he is reported to have said that silence to his report meant that a kidnapping was on the cards. He knew well what he was dealing with.
The sources (who are within the Navy) must be living in abject fear. Who will protect them unless they band together? Indiscipline is not tolerated. See what happened to Major General Durrani after he admitted that Kasab was a Pakistani to the international community. He was fired. The closer we get to the truth, the more dangerous the situation becomes. It’s clear when one is getting closer to the truth.
He is a hero. Will the Pakistani nation know who he was and recognise the services he rendered for them? Will they understand and value those services?
@ Tilsim
Agreed! There is panic in the ranks and a sense of disquiet in our fighting corps and after Syed Saleem Shahzad’s death, I am wondering if the “failure” of the Pakistani military and its intelligence was not in preventing the raid that killed OBL, but a failure to keep the secret of OBL’s presence! The closer you are to Ceasar, greater the fear! Yes, there is a great threat to the sources and they know they are on the hit-list.
ciao
The express tribune reported the following on 24 May. I pray for their reporters’ safety.
“There appeared to be a split between the leads followed by senior counter-terrorism officials in the Sindh Police and those pursued by naval officials.
Police officials insist that the attacks could not have happened without at least one navy officer or sailor being involved but naval officials reject that possibility, saying that no evidence supports this hypothesis. The navy has denied the police access to some of its personnel for questioning.
A senior police official said he had no doubts that someone in the navy had given minute-by-minute updates to the terrorists holding the remote to the improvised explosive device (IED) planted outside the base. “This became clear when the second attack on the navy took place outside PNS Mehran when an unscheduled bus left the [adjacent] base on April 28,” he said.
Another senior counter-terrorism official said they had intercepted a conversation of two men speaking in Pashto after the blasts, making the Baloch militant angle unlikely. Both the TTP and the separatist Balochistan Liberation Front have claimed responsibility for the attack.
A senior navy official dismissed the assertion that anyone from the military could be involved. Although he admitted that the bus that left the Mehran base on April 28 was unscheduled, he claimed that anyone conducting reconnaissance could learn that a number of navy buses leave their bases early in the morning. Another navy official denied the reports that naval intelligence had held a suspect on a military base for interrogation.
A navy spokesperson said that the inquiry report into the incident was unlikely to be made public.”
Actually I have found his articles extremely informative. His articles had neither the breast-beating nor the chest-beating speeches most Pakistani journalists indulge in.
Almost all Pakistani writers I have read, they just provide opinions and have contributed zero to my understanding of Pakistan. But SSS provided me with knowledge about Pakistan, and for that I am grateful to him.
So for all the insights on Pakistan you provided to the rest of the world, RIP!
Agreed with Feroz.
@Observer:
you should remain on the topic and don’t blame or come to religion…..Islam.
@ farahshah
Why cannnot Observer blame Islam or discuss religion?
ciao
to farahshah
Fascism never allows itself to be blamed or criticized.
Conversely, if an ideology (or religion or book or person) does not allow itself to be criticized or blamed then it is a fascist ideology (or religion or book or person).
Furthermore it is not just fascism but also arabic imperialism, racism and hegemony imposed upon the indian subcontinent and its inhabitants (whose original identity was and is hindu = Inhabitant of the Sindhu river basin).
How pakistanis (=Inhabitant of the Sindhu river basin = hindus) have been deceived and misled and are being misused. And they are made proud of being quislings! When will this deceit and self-deceit end? When will pakistanis stop slqandering or hating their hindu identity and origin? When will pakistanis regain their honesty and self-respect and throw our the agents of arabic racism-imperialism and the totalitarian religion/ideology under which they are being bred and indoctinated and misused?
Can I ever expect/get an honest anwser to these questions?
There is an “Indian version” of history regarding the actions of Pakistan’s military. Needless to say most Pakistanis are taught to dismiss this as lies because the “Indian version” is insulting to the honor and dignity of the Pakistan military.
The Pakistani army stands to lose the most if the Indian version is believed or is given even 10% credibility because the Pakistani army has fared far worse than they will admit in 1947-48, 1965, 1971, 1984 and in 1999.
It does not harm India when Pakistanis claim great victories in wars with India. It only makes Pakistanis believe lies about their own military, whom they then support as their saviours. The Pakistan army will oppose anything that might sully their reputation in Pakistan. If Indians say it – they can be accused of lying and their mockery of the Pakistan army dismissed as sour grapes.
But if a Pakistani like Saleem Shezad says something that could sully the image that the Pakistani army protects – he must be silenced. For the Pakistani army it is easier to kill Pakistanis than face the truth. It is not so easy to eliminate India, and a mere denial has to suffice. Both ways the Pakistani people have been made suckers and have been taken for a ride by your military.