Missing Pakistani Journalist Found dead Near Islamabad

ISLAMABAD:  May 31, 2011  

Syed Salim Shahzad a Pakistani journalist who had been missing since Sunday was found dead near his car in Sarai Alamgir, 150 kilometers southeast of Islamabad. Officials said his body was identified by relatives.

Saleem Shahzad, 40, was the Pakistan bureau chief for Asia Times Online, was reported missing on Sunday 

evening shortly after he left his home here for a television station for a talk show recording.

According to a local news paper, he went missing two days after writing an investigative report in Asia Times Online that al Qaeda had carried out the May 22 attack on the Karachi naval air base to avenge the detention of naval officials arrested on suspicion of al Qaeda links.

Meanwhile, Ali Dayan Hasan, senior South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said Shahzad had complained that he was receiving threats from the intelligence agencies.

Ali Dayan said: “The other day he visited our office and informed us that ISI had threatened him. He told us that if anything happened to him, we should inform the media about the situation and threats,” the news report said.

Police is investigating the case.